What Lies Tomorrow
by Krisenka's'a'Snowflake
Summary: The one thing that should keep a man going should always be the fate for a better tomorrow. Some kept that fate , others died with it and others lost it in the end. / sucky summary? / I have been dying to write a WW2 Hetalia fic and here it is! R&R and tell me if the fic is good?
1. Goodbye , old self

The train station was half empty. Only a few men with long jackets and a few elder and younger women with stylish dresses and coats passed around in a hurry around the railway. The benches ware empty , the inside of the station was too. Out side of the big building , where the train rails ware , blew chilled air. There ware two or three out of order trains that once drove supplies to the front during the great war. rday they ware sat still. The metal parts of their wagons ware rusty and the wood had started to mold. Only one of the three train railways was in order and was currently in use. The old military trains took over the other two. Around the rusty trains grew weeds and other tall and yellow-brown plants of the such. Snowy fields took the distance with a few bushes here and there. It was as if the train station was in the middle of nothing.

There ware wooden benches out side of the station building also. No one was crazy enough to sit out side on such a cold weather. The little people that ware hurrying around the station still and waiting for their trains ware inside the station , drinking hot tae or coffee from the little shop inside the building. One distant bench out side however was occupied. A somewhat short blond boy sat down on it , snoring lightly. The boy's dark green cap fell over his eyes slightly as his head hang loosely down , his blond , shoulder length , hair fell down the boy's neck and pale cheeks. The boy had tucked his gloved hands in the deep pockets of his long dark coat , the collar of which the boy had lifted up so he could keep wormer. A brown backpack sat in the boy's feet. It wasn't big since the boy had almost nothing to carry. He had been one of the first to come to the station and he had been waiting for his train almost all day. He had preferred to stay out side so he wouldn't have to deal with unneeded company though every now and then a officer would come to him and demand his documents for a check up. Gladly the boy had papers to show along with a passport. He had faked them back in Bialystok and thank god he knew a guy who could do him that little favor without much money. The boy had taken a train from there as quick as he could , changing trains on the 'border' and after getting to the closest to Grodno town he had to walk to said town by foot. In Grodno he had to get on a train to Simferopol and from there to Moscow , from there to Sankt Peterburg and from there to his desired destination , Novgorod.

The boy honestly did not know what he would do there but he believed that it was better than being shipped to Siberia with his other comrades from the front. No body was ready for a war with Russia. Perhaps that was why it was such a confusion on the battle field the first days of war. A confusion that didn't last long because in the matter of days the red army was already in Bialystok and on their way to Warsaw. Most of the soldiers that fought near the border and farther away from it ware captured and send in solitary camps in the Soviet Union , some of them how ever fled and with the help of faked documents and passports , got to Russia or Czechoslovakia. It wasn't easy for those who fled , it wasn't easy for this boy too. When the war started on the west front he had told him self – 'Feliks_ , you gotta _fight_ or _something_-_' – and that's how he got messed up in the war. He was an unmistakable patriot and loved the homeland but he valued his life too. He was sure that the homeland won't die _that_ easy but he was equally sure that he could die pretty easily if he continued to run around the trenches. And there he was. Starting a new life away from the homeland. He wished that his conquered home would stay there till the end of the war so he wouldn't have to live in Russia forever. He _hoped _so at least.

Cold wind blew again making the tall weeds around the station building rustle. The wind passed through the blond boy , making his cap shift a bit and blowing strings of soft blond hair over his cheeks. The boy groaned and lifted his hand up to brush off his hair from his face. He opened his glassy green eyes and blinked once or twice , rubbing the sleep out of them with his hand. The blond boy stretched and looked around seeing no train. He sighted and reached for his bag , pulling it on his knees and opening it. The boy shuffled in his bag for a bit and pulled out a small pocket watch. He was in a hurry when he was packing his things since he feared that the trains might get stopped. They did but at least he wasn't there any more. He had packet some clothes with him , some money and stuff he could sell in Russia , he had also grabbed the small pocket watch to keep in touch wit the time though he was going to sell it too once in Moscow. The boy opened the small silver watch to check the time – half past five. He took out the train ticket from his pocket to see when his train came. Half past six. The boy sighted stuffed the watch back in his backpack and the train ticket back in his pocket. He was worried that the trains might be stopped but there was no obvious reason for such a thing there for the boy had to wait another hour. He threw the bag back on the ground next to his feet and crossed his hands over his chest , tucking back in his coat.

He wasn't sleepy anymore , he couldn't fall asleep anyway. Thoughts about what he was going to do occupied his mind. He knew no Russian though he was sure he would catch up quickly. He couldn't read Cyrillic and here he was surrounded by it. He could barely read the writing on his train ticket! He couldn't let anyone know he was Polish , that meant a Gulag camp in Siberia for him. What was he going to do in Novgorod? What was he going to work there? How was he going to earn money for a living? Where was he going to stay? Thoughts of the such raced through the young boy's mind as his green eyes scanned the snow covered field.

He was so concentrated with the white field and the military trains that stood on the other two train rails that he didn't hear the foot steps that came his way. "Dokumenti!" , a booming , strong and stoic voice came to the boy's ears and he quickly looked to his left to see a stoic Russian male in a border officer uniform. The officer , of course , spoke in Russian but the blond boy had been hearing that word for a whole week so he knew what the officer wanted. He nodded and started to shuffle in his pocket for his documents. He quickly found the small black booklet and gave it to the waiting officer. The young Russian took it and looked through it. The blond boy knitted his eyebrows , feeling uncomfortable.

"Feliks?Feliks Simtsov?" , the officer asked , looking at _Feliks _and raising a brow , "From West Belarus?" , again came a question in Russian but Feliks didn't hesitate to nod. On documents his name was Feliks ( which was his original name ) Simtsov , from West Belarus , nineteen years old. The officer grunted something and returned the documents to Feliks. "There are a lot of Poles in that part of Belarus. But that will change soon." , the officer chuckled but Feliks didn't understand what was there to chuckle for , he just kept his eyes on the officer. "Where to?" the said officer asked again , looking at Feliks , "Um…ah…Simferopol?..." Feliks half questioned him self as he replayed to the , probably misunderstood , question , in broken Russian. The officer nodded and even reached for his cigars , a gesture which got Feliks a bit buzzed. If this officer started a conversation , how would Feliks keep up with it? Thank god an other officer came out from the building just as the one next to Feliks was about to lit his cigar.

"Lobanov!Idi siuda!" the officer that had just came out of the building yelled at the younger officer next to Feliks.

"Coming Sashka!" the younger yelled back and tucked the already taken out cigar behind his ear , walking off without even waving bye to Feliks. The young Pole puffed out his cheek at that and crossed his arms. A good bye would have been nice after all , "Stupid Russkis…" , Feliks mumbled to him self in his oh so dear Polish and looked at the field again , leaning back on the bench and crossing his hands.

In honesty , Feliks was Feliks Lukasiewicz , born in Warsaw , nineteen years old. It pained him to think that people would recognize him as Feliks Simtsov from Belarus. But what could he do when the times ware such. Feliks could only hope that the war will end and he would be able to go back home , to the little street in Warsaw , and again be recognized as Feliks Lukasiewicz. Feliks that worked in the small grocery store of mister Czmielewski and always slacked off , Feliks that gave the old women from his building advices on what to wear and how to decorate their homes , Feliks that was the lazy , cheerful and somewhat egoistic blond boy from the third floor , that Feliks was him not the made up Feliks Simtsov that was supposed to be a Belarusian Communist!-

Feliks shook his head furiously , trying to get rid of the thoughts that filled his mind. He was again going to be recognized as that Feliks , he just had to wait , of course he wasn't good at that but it was just a matter of time. At least he _hoped_ so.

The blond boy didn't notice how time flew by. He dozed off again but gladly woke up a good ten minutes before his train came. The loud booming sound of the rails clacking under its weight and the whistle that signaled its arrival took over the cold air. The people from inside the building came up on the platform out side the station and Feliks stood up , taking his bag. The train slowly came to a stop and the doors opened. The people started to get on , so did Feliks. The Pole took out his ticket to see where he was supposed to sit , slowly making his way down the corridor of the train wagon. He had bought a normal , one way ticket , he didn't care for classes. Normally he did but not now when he had no money to effort a ticket for a better seat. He ended up in a wagon in the end of the train which was almost empty , a good thing for him. He sat down on the uncomfortable seat in the far end of the wagon , putting his backpack on the seat beside him. Feliks shifted a bit in his seat and took off his green cap , leaning back on the seat after words. While waiting for the train to start Feliks looked out of the small , unclean window. He begged a final farewell to the train station building of Grodno , the small bench on which he had sat and to the old military trains ( he had to look on his left to see them ) that ware probably unused since the great war. He begged a farewell to Feliks Lukasiewicz too. It was as if this small stay in Grodno had been the end of his Polish citizenship. This small train station had become a grave for Feliks Lukasiewicz. The Feliks that worked in the small grocery store of mister Czmielewski and always slacked off , the Feliks that gave the old women from his building advices on what to wear and how to decorate their homes , the Feliks that was the lazy , cheerful and somewhat egoistic blond boy from the third floor.

The loud whistle was again heard and the train started to move. The last thing that Feliks _Lukasiewicz_ saw from the Grodno train station was the small bench on which he had sat. He didn't know if it was his mind playing tricks or the fact that he had had a hard day but he could have swore that he saw him self on that bench. The cheerfully grinning Feliks that was leaning back on the bench with his legs crossed and a brown cap atop his blond hair , light brown military jacket with a high black collar and big buttons and breast pockets with a black belt around the waist over his thin upper frame with the same colored military pants and black boots. The old Feliks , _Lukasiewicz_.

_-to be continued_ … -

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Okay! So this is the first time I write here , hope this is good , there might be some typos but I hope not much. I'm kinds proud how this turned out , please R&amp;R!

Dokmenti - documents ; during communism in the USSR people had to walk around with their documents no matter where they ware , they had to show them to every officer that wanted to see them and that meant - give your documents to every guy in a uniform you see in the street.

Idi siuda - Come or come here

Grodno is a town near the Polish-Russian border in Russia!The other cities mentioned are all Russian except Warsaw and Bialystok.


	2. Privet Russia

The train's loud whistle was heard and as if it cut through the still night air. The screeching of the stopping train onto the rails felt heavy in the ears of the waiting people on the platform. The scenery resembled the one back in Grodno but without the old rusted trains that occupied two of the three train rails there. This station how ever was a bit smaller with only two rail sets. A stopped train occupied one of the two sets , the second quickly being filled by the train that had just came.

The trains doors opened and the little people that ware on it quickly made their way out of it , being replaced by the ones that got on it. During the whole trip , Feliks dozed off , slept , walked up and down the wagon corridors and repeated the same routine over and over until he got to Simferopol. The minute he got off of the train the warmth of the inside of the station hit his pale face and the smell of some sort of pastries came to his nose. His stomach growled and he hurried towards the inside of the station , a bit embarrassed from his stomach's reaction. Though it was normal. He hadn't eaten almost anything in two weeks so of course he would be hungry. Feliks roamed over his pockets once inside the station building , looking for some spare money which he could use to buy something to eat. He walked to one of the benches and sat down , lifting his bag on his knees and roaming through it for money but he could find any. It wasn't like he had no money at all. He had money for the tickets he would buy during his trip to Novgorod but he wasn't sure how much he would have left if he bough food now. He closed his eyes for a brief moment and looked around for the ticket booths. Maybe if he bought a ticket first he would be able to consider if he would have money for food. If not he won't be eating tonight as well.

Feliks stood up from the bench and made his way towards the ticket booths. The small windows ware mounted in the walls , most of the glass was covered by a black grid , there was a little opening from which the person on the other side could give the ticket , newspaper or other things of the like. Feliks walked to one of the three unoccupied booths slowly and hesitantly. He was always a bit shy and right now he didn't even know what to say. His eyes darted around the people on the other booths and he tried to hear what they said. Gladly on the booth to his side a young Russian male was buying a ticket. Feliks narrowed his eyes in the direction of the male and tried to hear what he told the person behind the wall. "Bilet do Moskvu." , "Dvustronnim ili odnostronnim?" , that's what Feliks over heard. He took his time to process how to say the words and when it sank in his normally fluffy mind he continued to walk to the empty booth.

"Erm…bilet-bilet do Moskvu." Feliks mumbled but repeated it again a bit louder for the young girl on the other side of the glass.

The girl looked up at Feliks , "Dvustronnim ili ednostronnim?" , she asked and Feliks gulped lightly. "Um , do Moskvu…erm…tolioko." He honestly doubted his own words but he hoped that the girl understood him non the less. The somewhat young girl raised an eyebrow and in the end gave him a one way ticket to which Feliks was glad. He gave him self a mental congratulation for catching up with the Russian so fast too as he walked back to the bench on which he previously sat.

Feliks flopped down on the bench and , after pushing his ticket in the pocket of his old smock , opened his palm to see a few folded rubles which the girl on the ticket booth had returned him. Feliks counted them but in the end he doubted he could buy _anything_ with them. And he had to eat right. Feliks desperately sighted and leaned back on the bench.

Back in Poland he had took all his savings. Somewhere around the border he had met a good Russian officer who , seeing Feliks's troubles , exchanged the Pole's zlotys for the same amount of rubles. Looks like not all Russkis ware the same , had though Feliks back then and still though so. Though Feliks had calculated how much money he would need for a trip to Novgorod ( with all the changing of his trains along the way ) he was scared to buy anything else. Though his stomach grumbled and he felt him self weak , Feliks refused to pay for anything he wouldn't be needing. "_To hell with it_…" , Feliks thought as his stomach grumbled again and stood up.

Though he had no time to stand up fully because just as he was going to a strong hand pulled him down on the bench and Feliks yelped before looking up to see a grumpy looking officer. Feliks automatically reached for his identification documents and passed them to the officer just as the old grumpy man reached down to snatch them from Feliks's small hand. "Simtsov?" the officer asked looking back at Feliks. Feliks quickly nodded as his documents ware returned. The officer gave him another cold look and headed off towards the other people to check their documents too.

Once the officer was no longer in sight , Feliks stood up and took his bag. He had checked his ticked to see when his train leaves and according to it he had a bit of time before leaving and heading towards Moscow. Because he felt uncomfortable to just sit around , Feliks started to walk around the station. He had made his mind and had decided to get something to eat too. If his money didn't cover the ticket from Moscow to Sankt Peterburg then he would stay in Moscow. But that was something he would think about later.

Feliks didn't read newspapers so he didn't bother to buy one ( it _was_ all in Russian after all ) , he just walked around the station building in search for something to eat. While he was walking , Feliks saw a little girl with her mother. The mother was walking , holding her daughter's hand. The other hand of the little girl how ever was occupied with some sort of bread. The little girl carried the food in a white paper napkin. Feliks stared for a bit at the food and decided to have something of the sort. He looked around but since he didn't see any place that sold food he thought that there was some place out side of the station. He just hoped he wouldn't have to walk all the way to the city.

Thankfully Feliks didn't have to walk to the , a lot closer than he had thought , city. Out side of the station , right next to it's building , stood a small shop. Feliks couldn't see what was in the shop but he thought it was some sort of bakery. Without hesitation Feliks made his way towards it. What he saw inside made his stomach flip. It really was a bakery full of fresh bread and what he supposed – babezcki. Ah , the thought of that made his mouth water. He could see jars of candy too which surprised him. There was a stand for newspapers next to the counter.

Feliks stood like that for awhile , staring at the food behind the glass showcase. He managed the strength to gulp down the saliva in his mouth and proceeded to walk into the small bakery. The shop keeper sat on a small stool behind the counter , a newspaper in his hands. He looked at Feliks and after taking a short glance , looked back down at his newspaper. Feliks looked over the showcase , behind which the pastries stood on display , his eyes scanning over the money tags and searching for something under five rubles , which was the money he was willing to spend for food. That was one of the little times he actually praised communism. With his plain five rubles he could buy at least ten of those babezcki. And that was what he had in plan though he didn't buy ten just two. That was his original idea before he remembered that he didn't know how to say 'I would like two of those' in Russian. He blinked and knitted his eyebrows trying to mentally form a sentence with his broken Russian. Feliks stayed like that for awhile staring at nothing in particular and thinking about what to say. His presence how ever started to bother the Russian man behind the counter however. The fairly old man left his newspaper down on the counter and looked at Feliks with an annoyed look. "Do you ant anything , if not get out!" , the loud booming voice startled Feliks and he turned towards the man nodding. He did not understand what the man had said but the _way_ he said it got him going. He looked at the show case with the food again and with a quick nod to him self , looked back at the man behind the counter.

"Two…of those?..." , Feliks again half questioned him self as he said every word slowly as to get the intonation properly and pointed towards the desired pastries.

A wave of relief took over blond Pole as the man stood up from the little stool and walked behind the showcase and , with some sort of spatula as Feliks assumed , took out two babezcki and lied them down on a white paper napkin. Again , Feliks praised him self mentally for catching up with the Russian so fast putting aside the fact that his Russian was far more worse than it sounded to him.

"One ruble." , the shop owner said and Feliks was again surprised at how cheap everything in Russia was , even the train tickets didn't cost as much as he had thought. Maybe he _would_ have money for more food.

Feliks paid for his food and took the white paper napkin. He quickly walked out with a smile of pure delight and bliss as he thought about devouring the food in his hands. Beside the station building , where there ware stone stairs that took one to the platform beside the train rails , stood a small wrecked and old bench. The paint on it had started to fall and the wood had started to mold. Feliks however didn't care , as he sat down on the rusty and cold bench beside which grew some sort of tall yellow-brown weeds. Feliks quickly started to eat the still worm babezckis , shivering in delight as he did so. In the end , he ate both so fast that the doughy food felt heavy on his empty stomach. He leaned back on the bench's wrecked backrest and sighted happily , his stomach finally full. He had been scared that he might not be able to keep the food down since he had not been eating well for about two weeks but the doubts about such stuff faded quickly. The taste of the worm and somewhat sweet bread stayed in Feliks's mouth and he whined wanting more. But he wasn't so sure if going back and buying more was a good idea. He didn't want to be any close to people unless he needed to , until he learned proper Russian at least. The idea about getting some sucker to translate for him flashed in his mind but it went just as fast as it came.

A though came to Feliks's currently blank and fuzzy from the delight of having his stomach full mind and with somewhat panic he reached to find his backpack. He sighted again in relief as he noticed the light bag on his shoulders. Everything he currently had was in that bag. The little clothes he had ( he had a lot more but didn't have the time to pack them all ) , the stuff he hoped to sale while in Russia to effort the first days of his stay , the pocket watch which he used to check the time. The bag it self had sentimental value for him , being the backpack he was given in his first days of war. Of course back then it was much more heavier and full of military supplies and '_junk_' , as he used to say , but that didn't matter now.

After some time of staying on the bench , Feliks took out the small pocket watch to see how much time he had until his train came. He had about a hour more to wait and he sighted in annoyance. He wasn't at all patient and right now when he was in a good mood with a full stomach he wasn't in the mood for waiting. There ware no people around him and he supposed that they are all inside the station building since it was fairly cold out side , though he didn't care much. He though about how things didn't seam so bad anymore. He barely forgot about his ruined home and his conquered country and almost looked foreword to the new life in Novgorod. Now that he knew everything in the USSR was a lot more cheep than he had thought he was sure that he would eat more often. And once he sold the stuff he had maybe he was going to get a nice place to live. Maybe things ware going to turn out alright for him after all.

Those ware the thoughts with which Feliks dozed off just to wake up by the loud clacking of the train and the loud whistle which signalized it's arrival and departure. Feliks opened his eyes groggily and groaned as he stretched his arms. He stood up , dusted him self off and just as he looked at the train rails he saw the train on which he as supposed to be on _departing_ from the station! He yelped loudly and stared at the slowly starting train. Feliks barely had time to think before grabbing his bag and starting to run down the platform after getting on it. The train was still moving slowly and its end was just at the end of the platform. Feliks ran down the platform as fast as he could and just as the end of the train was an inch away from the platform end he jumped over the little fence on the train's back and tumbled down on the tin platform of the train.

The train took off at full speed.

It took Feliks a good ten minutes to organize his thoughts. He stood up , panting and wide eyed , using the short green fence around the tin platform for support. He looked down at the rails but quickly looked away feeling slightly sick. He had always had a week stomach. He looked at the station building that started to look smaller and smaller as the train went farther away from it. The thought about missing his train or falling off just as he jumped made Feliks shiver and he shook his head. He looked down at his hand to see his bag still with him making him sight deeply in relief. He was sure he almost dropt it as he tumbled on the platform of the train. He touched around his pockets and felt the ticket still there. All was good. And then another terrifying thought struck him. His _documents_. He touched around the pockets of his pants , the lower pockets of his old slack , he roamed around his backpack. _Nothing_. Feliks shivered at the thought of loosing his identification papers in the _USSR_. He had heard that they _kill_ people for _missing_ papers and he was currently on a _train_.

All the panic almost made Feliks forget that the slack over his shoulders had breast pockets. And lucky for him , the booklet with his papers was right in his left breast pocket. _God_ , Feliks felt the biggest relief his life the moment he reached in his breast pocket and felt the black booklet there. It took him some time to recover from the happiness and with another deep sight he turned around and opened the sliding door of the train , stepping in the last wagon. The only person there gave him a strange look but Feliks didn't notice because he was too busy checking his seat on the ticket. He had again bought a ticket of the most regular. Though he still didn't know that in the USSR everyone got the same so there was no third or second or first class here. Again , lucky for Feliks , his seat was in the wagon after the one he was currently in. He happily tapped his hat at the man in the wagon and with a big smile made his way to the other wagon.

His seat as again next to the window so he quickly sat down and made him self comfortable on the uncomfortable seat. He sighted , looking out the window and again seeing the same scenery of snowy fields and the sight of some forest in the distance , though only a bit of the said forest could be made out since the pain trees had been covered with snow.

That day , aside from almost missing his train or getting killed _or_ loosing his papers , was good for Feliks. All he could do was wish for the next to be as good as the previous.

_-to be continued _…_-_

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Here's chapter 2! Hope it's good too , R&amp;R yet again!

Bilet do Moskvu - ticket to Moscow  
Dvustronnim ili ednostronnim - one way or bilateral  
tolioko - only ( aka. only to Moscow beacuase our Poland doesn't know what the words mean)

-  
During communism in the USSR everything was a lot more cheep , for example , a Bulgarian _lev_is worth _25_ Russian ( and Soviet ) rubles ( I have no idea why I'm giving this _example_).  
_babedzcki_actually means scone!Or muffin , it's a dough pastry with sometimes chocolate or other sweet stuff inside are very tasty and soft especially when served worm~


	3. Have fate stranger

\- _two weeks later_ , _Novgorod_ -

The city lights barely flickered as the moon glow illuminated on the glassy surface of the lake. Slowly , the white snow flakes fell down , mingling and melting as they came to touch the melting snow on the streets. People walked down the big and small city streets. Fancy women dressed in long fur coats and wearing extravagant fur hats accompanied elegantly dressed gentlemen as they made their way across the big main street. Old cars drove down the streets and splashed melting snow and water on the sidewalks. The lights of all kinds of fancy stores filled the dark night , though not much people could be seen in them at the hour. Most of the people ware heading home from a long day , others ware just taking peaceful walks along the streets. Married couples and younger love birds even watched the moon.

That was the fancy reality that every Soviet city had. Aside from it though stood a not so comforting and romantic sight.

In the suburb of Novgorod , down the lake , a bit far from the illuminating city lights , on a far , rusty bench sat a young boy. He leaned on his arms that held tightly onto the fabric of his worn out black pants. The boy was so short and thin that he almost disappeared in the old black coat he was wearing. The boy had lifted the color of the coat up to preserve from the biting cold. The old coat had a patch on the boy's left elbow along with another patch on the boy's right breast pocket. The boy could barely be seen as it stood in almost darkness. A few meters from the bench stood a street lamp that flickered , little winged bugs and night butterflies surrounded the flickering light bulb.

From across the street that separated the bench on which the boy sat and the smaller dark shops of the city came another boy , a bit taller than the one on the bench. His clothing was similar to the boy on the bench though he had an old white scarf around his neck. The scarf was worn out and looked brown-gray on the moon light and flickering city lamp a few meters from the said boy. The boy lifted his scarf a bit up , tucking more into the old coat over his shoulders as cold wind suddenly blew , blowing falling snowflakes into the boy's eyes.

The shorter boy quickly looked up at the taller , _blue_ eyes sparkling with some sort of hope. "Well?" the boy spoke with a thin and silent voice. The taller boy shook his head with a sight and sat down on the bench beside his comrade. "Only thirty rubles…" the taller said again shaking his head , "I guess we'll have to stay out side tonight,". The shorter boy sighted and looked up at the little gloom shops across the street. Men laughing and cheering could be heard from the close tavern. That seamed to be the only noise that filled this side of the city. The lights in the cozy apartments ware out , the big home buildings slowly made way to the little farm houses and those houses made way to the snowy fields that continued for miles up the river until getting to little , scattered villages. The melancholic scenery made the taller male sight.

When he had came in Russia to seek his luck he never thought that it would end up this way. He first went to Moscow. Everything was going good , he found a nice home ( sure , it wasn't big but it was his home ) , he found a good friend in the face of the boy beside him , he found his first love in the face of a beautiful ( for him at least ) young girl that worked in the local politburo ( sure she didn't even want to hear about him but still- ), he even started a job in a local grocery store. He lived good , until his boss fired him for unknown to him reasons. Everything as if started to fall down then. His landlord kicked him out a month after that for unpaid taxes on the apartment he and his friend lived in. The boys ware left with nothing. And they had been in Moscow for only two months and a half.

They couldn't effort anything in Moscow there for they agreed to try out their luck in Novgorod. It came to their ears that it was better there and still wasn't under critics. The day after they got kicked out of the small apartment they used all their savings to buy tickets to there. And here they ware now , sitting like some homeless and pathetic idiots ( which they probably ware ) on a broken down bench in the out skirts of the city.

"We need to call Eduard," the shorter boy suddenly said taking the other out of his self criticizing thoughts. The taller boy looked at his friend with somewhat sad eyes. "We can't relay on Eduard. He gave us money to help us cover the train tickets already," , "But we have no money _now_!-" , the shorter boy interrupted his friend , turning his eyes towards him. "You sold the locket you bought for Natalia back in Moscow , the one she didn't accept , and for _only_ thirty rubles! Come on Toris , just this once…only a hundred rubles so we can survive here until we get jobs or something , he'll understand,-" , the shorter boy chocked out as he looked down again , small tears pricking out of the corners of his eyes , though he didn't know of anger or rather despair. The taller male shook his head again however. He didn't want to be a bother for his old friend. After all , Eduard was married right , how could he want money from a man who was just starting to make a family.

"We can't Raivis. We can't be such bothers…" , Toris doubted his words but maybe it was the fact that he was so good didn't allow him to ask for money. _I can call Eduard in Moscow , I'll tell him that we'll give him his money once we can , just this once_ , Toris thought but shook his head. He couldn't. How could he?

Toris blinked briefly and looked back at the darkening outskirts. Sleeping on a bench somewhere and spending the night out filled him with terror. All his life he had never had one single night on the street. He wondered if it would have been better for him to stay back in Lithuania and keep up his work as a street painter. A though flashed in his mind.

The green eyed male reached down for his bag that stood beside Raivis's between their legs. "What are you doing?," Raivis asked in disbelieve as Toris took out a sketch book from his bag then left the bag down again. "I'm going to sketch the scenery," Toris replayed flipping through the sketch book to find a clear paper. He roamed in his pocket a bit and took out a small black pencil. Raivis blinked at his friend as Toris turned towards the street with a light smile. "How can you think of drawing in a time like this?" the short boy barely snapped his friend. "We're spending the night here so no need to hurry." Toris said , his smile bigger , as if nothing bothered him anymore. "You should start drawing for money…you'll get paid good," Raivis suggest silently , more to him self , as he looked at the houses and buildings across the street. Toris was far too taken away with his sketch to hear though. Back in Lithuania he had studied in an art school , one of the little , though he couldn't keep a carrier with drawing. His family wasn't all that rich so he was forced to leave the art school and start working. Not like he minded. Well , maybe he did but was too good to refuse his parents' wish.

A few minutes passed in silence between the two. The snow had stopped by now leaving a fluffy cover over the ground. It was a bit too dark and Toris had to narrow his eyes to see what he was drawing. Though his peaceful sketching didn't last long as he heard foot steps , muffled by the snow under the owners feet. Toris looked up and looked to his right too see a shadowy figure walking down the street from the little tavern. Toris quickly pushed his stuff back in his bag. The said figure looked a bit shorter than him and Toris doubted that he wouldn't be able to protect him self. But what was he thinking!? He's been on the street for not as much as an hour and now he was going to act like a…like a strange drunken brute?! Jumping on fights and looking strangely on everyone who crossed his path?! Sometimes , when talking to him self , Toris came up with the strangest ideas. And that included the current.

The shadowy figure passed through the little light that came from the lamp light and even though the person walked on the other side of the street , Toris could make out the person. A boy , about his age but a bit shorter. A dark brown slack over his thin shoulders , he wore a dark cap over his head and black , knee high , letter boots. Toris blinked and narrowed his eyes to see better but the boy crossed through the lamp light , automatically becoming a shadowy figure again. Toris looked away quickly while Raivis pressed against his side lightly , having seen and heard the boy across the street. Toris looked at Raivis and raised a brow.

The shadow figure didn't walk away how ever. The boy across the street looked at Toris and Raivis and stopped. Toris saw that the boy had his hands inside his pockets. The boy looked at them for awhile before walking to the two. Toris stiffened a bit as the boy came across the street but didn't do anything. Raivis just looked down and to his side occupying his gaze with his snow at his feet.

"Look at your selves , who threw you out?" , the boy said in silly sounding Russian as he stood a foot from the bench. Toris quickly looked up and blinked.

"N-No one! How can you think such a thing?!" Toris said and even laughed lightly. The boy in front of them just shook his head , his blond hair swoshing with the movement. "Oh pah-lease , I know guys like you two from first sight." That got Toris a bit upset and angry. This boy randomly came up to him and started to talk nonsense in his face as if he knew everything. As if he knew what it was like to be thrown out like a dirty rag , like he knew what it was like to be rejected from your only love , like he knew what it was like to be out in the cold without anything. Toris just clutched his fists on his laps and looked away from the skinny blond boy in front of him. "Anyway," the boy started again getting Toris's attention , "What are you doing so late at night out?". Toris quickly tried to think of a replay , "Just out side , we ware just heading home." He cheerfully lied , a sudden sadness over taking him and he looked down with a sad smile on his face. "Who am I kidding…we have no home to go back to," the boy in front of him didn't say nothing so Toris took it a sine to continue. Raivis didn't do anything too. ",we lived a happy life in Moscow. We had jobs , a cozy home , everything for starters. And then it all vanished…right through our fingers…" Toris looked down at his hands with a sad look. He had to admit the sad reality to him self. That he had lost everything…

"You know , I think we can sort things out for you." , both Toris and Raivis looked up with shocked expressions. "What?" they both said in one voice and the boy in front of them nodded. "Well yeah , I can't leave you guys here. I like you," he opened his green glassy eyes and looked at Toris who blinked in surprise , "I think I'll get used to you around. I'll take you home , I need someone who will clean and cook for me." , "Ex-Excuse me?" Toris almost shrieked , mouth wide open. Raivis simply stayed aside from the talk. "I offer shelter! And not so worm food because I buy it and eat it quickly but if you cook dinner there will be worm food too."

Toris didn't know how to respond as the blond boy stuck his gloved hand in his face. "My name is Feliks." The boy said as Toris shook his hand. "Toris Laurinatis." He looked at Raivis beside him , "This is Raivis.". As the two talked , there under the dark sky in the middle of the night , Toris actually felt nice. He even forgot about Raivis who was pouting and looking at his feet. Toris even laughed at the stupid jokes that Feliks told. The blond told him that he was from Belarus which got Toris thinking about Natalia again. _She is from there too_. Feliks talked about how he had came to Russia and how he had rent a little apartment near by. Toris on the other hand told him all about his troubles. He felt good in the other's company.

Time passed a lot quicker and even the sound from the tavern had died down. Perhaps it was somewhere around midnight or even past that. Toris and Feliks ware too deep in their conversation to notice though. A loud whistle how ever interrupted their talk however and the three boys looked to their lefts to see a large figure approaching them. Feliks groaned softly under his breath at the sight.

"You three! What are you doing so late at night out!?" , the voice of a man struck the three boys and while Toris and Raivis stiffened Feliks just crossed his arms in annoyance.

As the man approached the bench , caught in the little light of the street lamp , Toris made out a man around his mid forties. A mustache grew on his upper lip , similar to Stalin's. His hair was black , a few white strings here and there , slicked back and covered with a furajka. The man had a grumpy look and his small eyes shined like two coals on the little light the street lamp had to offer.

"Chill out Sashka , It's me." , Feliks slurred in happy voice , his annoyance hinted.

"Simtsov? You old fox you," the voice of the officer got angry as he continued , "what are you doing around here?! You little,". Toris's eyes widened as the old officer came up to Feliks and grabbed him the collar of the slack. Feliks him self didn't seam bothered , he just raised his hands up in defense and kept a playful grin on. "Easy there , I never though that sitting on benches was against the law,". The officer groaned something and turned towards Toris and Ravis. "Documents." , he said , an angry note in his voice , as he extended a hand out towards the two. Both of the boys scrambled for their documents and quickly gave them to the angry officer.

The officer let go of Feliks , who still kept a smug look on , and took the two booklets. He looked through the two , looking at Toris and Raivis from time to time , and once he was finished he gave them back to the two boys. He then looked back at Feliks , "Go home Simtsov and no trouble this time." , he sternly said and , pushing his hands back in his slack , turned to leave. "Got it , tovarishch podpolkovnik Lopakin!" Feliks said as he saluted to the already walking away officer.

"Who was that?" Raivis piped out once the tension from the officer's visit was gone. "Podpolkovnik Alexei Lopakin , his from the near politburo." Feliks said as he straightened his slack after which he looked at the two , grinning smugly , "The old guy's mad you know , he totally thinks I'll do what ever he says just because he works for the NKVD , yeah. He's a stick in the mud." , "He works for NKVD?" Toris said a bit shivery and Feliks nodded. "He has superiors there," the blond boy crossed his legs and arms and leaned back on the bench , "But he ain't trouble. I know." Feliks's smile became wormer as he turned towards Toris. The Lithuanian felt a bit better.

"How can we trust you," Raivis piped out and the other two looked at him. The short boy had his head down and a frown on his pale face. "You are messed up with a NKVD officer , how can we trust you?". Feliks as if took that as a personal insult. "I'm not making you live with me." He plainly said , "Do it if you want , or you can sleep on this bench tonight." , "Raivis can I have a word with you." Toris quickly said as he lifted Raivis by the forearm and dragged him to the street lamp.

"What are you doing?" he said as he frowned at the shorter boy, "He can help us." , "I don't trust him , he'll get us in trouble," , "No he won't , just because some crazy officer knows him doesn't mean-" , "You trust him too much! You're too naïve-"

Feliks raised an eyebrow at the two boys that ware whisper yelling beside the street lamp. Did he say or do something wrong? It wasn't like he wanted the shorter boy around , he didn't take much liking to him anyway. After a few minutes the two boys came back to the bench. The shorter boy looked gloom. "We accept your offer , if it's still in charge I mean." The taller of the two said and Feliks nodded. "Of course! C'mon now , before podpolkovnik crazy comes back." The short blond boy stood up and pushed his hands in his pockets as Toris nodded.

The street lamp flickered again before going off , leaving the street in darkness.

_-to be continued_… -

* * *

Selfish much , huh Poland. And ow! Don't hate Latvia , Liet won't forget you!

tovarishch - something like mister ( or the Russia comrade ) but above the comrade...I think...  
podpolkovnik - lieutenant sergeant  
NKVD - a law enforcement agency of the Soviet Union that directly executed the rule of power of the All Union Communist Party. It was closely associated with the Soviet secret police, which at times was part of the agency, and is known for its political repression during the era of Joseph Stalin. ( from Wikipedia )


	4. A place to stay?

\- _one weeks previous , Novgorod train station _-

The platform out side the train station was crowded with people , unlike the other stations on which the train stopped. Feliks remembered getting on the very same train in Moscow which meant that he didn't have to get on another train in Sankt Petersburg to come to Novgorod. Which on the _other_ hand meant that he didn't have to buy another ticket and _that_ meant that he had a lot more money than he originally thought he would at the end of the trip.

The train station wasn't big. There ware three rail sets , one of them being occupied of course. The second the loud whistle of the train , which signaled its arrival at the station , was heard and the doors opened , the people started to pour out of it , quickly being replaced by the ones on the platform. You couldn't tell much difference between the people. All ware wearing the same styled clothes and of course all ware the same social class as communism would have it. None stood out much. Children ran down the platform , elderly men and women got on and out of the train , men in uniforms would check the documents of the newly arrived people and would look after the well being of the station.

At the far end of the platform , where the farer train wagons ware , an elderly officer stood , his job wasn't to look over documents , more like he was looking after the order on the station. Which was odd , taking his elderly look. The man looked at the people , his dark sparkly eyes looking over the thin framed glasses that hung on his nose. Surely he was a man that had seen this sight many times before and was bored of it. He had seen all there was to see from this station. Nothing could get his eye and he him self didn't caught the eyes of the people on the platform. It has been the same for this man ever since he was young. And in times like this , as he watched the young men walk around the platform and the children run around , he couldn't help but think that his life was wasted. His life was this station. He would go when this station went. He grew up with this station , morally and physically. He _thought_ he had seen everything from this station.

"Hey gramps!" , a loud voice rang in the ears of the old officer and for a second he thought he wasn't the one that was being addressed. But he truly was , and when he turned his eyes towards the voice he saw a young boy , around his twenties , approaching him. One thing the officer would remember about that boy for life was his sparkly blue eyes , the other was the cheery grin he had. As if it wasn't a time of war.

"What is it that you want son?" the officer asked , looking over the grinning boy again. The boy was an inch taller than him , with fair skin. His hair was…spiky. Strawberry blond and ruffled upwards. His clothing was nothing out of the normal. A long brown and a bit dirty coat , mud covered shoos and brown pants. Nothing was unnatural about this boy except his hair , at least the officer thought so.

"Gramps I wanna ask ya' where the closest Inn is?" , the boy said , his grin not fading , "This is Novgorod right?" the boy continued and the old officer blinked before nodding. "Da , this is Novgorod. The closest Inn? Well , that's a word I haven't heard in a while," the man took off his glasses and rubbed his eyes , putting them again before continuing , "I don't know about Inns but you can rent a apartment in Kovalchuk's building on Chernyahovska street." The boy stared at the man for awhile with a confused expression , "And how do I get there?" , the man sighted , "You aren't from here are you boy. Where are you from?". The boy grinned proudly at the question , "I am from Denmark! My name is Mathias Densen!" , "Denmark?! Let me check your visa boy , and documents." The man's voice got a bit stern but the boy before him didn't make much a fuss. Instead he pulled out a black booklet and passed it to the man. Everything looked good enough as the officer looked through the documents. "Why are you here boy?" the old man asked , giving Mathias back his documents , "That's for me to know gramps!" the boy laughed and man sighted in annoyance , "Da , it looks so," the man yet again took off his glasses , cleaned them with the end of his uniform coat and put them back again after rubbing his eyes and continuing. ", to get from here to Kovalchuk's , you got to head down the railing," he pointed a slender , trembling finger down the rails in front of them , "once you get to Aleksandra Korsunova street you go left. After that you take the right turn and continue walking down Bolshaya Sankt-Peterburgskaya , you have to turn right down Chernyahovskogo and you'll see the place there.". The boys face lit up as he nodded , his piercing blue eyes staring down at the rails. "Thanks gramps." , Mathias made a step foreword before being stopped by the officer. "My name isn't 'gramps'!" the officer growled with annoyance , "Its Grigori Andreevich Horishev." , the boy flashed him yet another cheery grin. "Nice to know that. Gramps.", the ignorant male laughed as he ran down the platform but this time the officer did not stop him. That was the last interesting thing that happened to him before he retired a year later. He still tells the story about how he met Mathias Densen , only twice a year. On his birthday and on the birthday of his grand son.

A wave of relief fell over Feliks as the train stopped at the Novgorod Depo. Finally , _finally_ , his long trip was over. He was going to start his new life and he felt oddly trilled about it. After he got out of the train the well known routine followed. He was stopped by the first officer and was demanded to give his documents for a check up. A thing he was glad about was that his documents looked _a hundred percent_ real. He didn't want the next train ride for him to be to Siberia.

The only thing that he had to do now was to find a place to stay. Sure he had some money to rent something for the time being. But he had another plan. A plan that only someone as '_intelligent and awesome_' would think off. Yeah , he was going to get some _sucker_ to live with and that _sucker_ would pay _half_ the rent. He was going to get someone as _cool_ and as _smart_ as him! Yeah , that was his _plan_. But as he thought about it now he couldn't get someone just like _him_! That someone would be too _smart_ ( like him ) and would quickly look through his plan and turn it to his favor! _No_ , Feliks needed an _idiot_. Someone _desperate_ enough to fall for the trap. And Feliks was going to find that someone right _here_! On the train station!

Feliks started to walk down the platform , hoping to find something to eat. The thoughts about the idiot he would find ware left for later. He walked away from the station and down an unknown to him street. _My_ , was it cold up north. Feliks staggered over the fairly deep snow , tucking his hands under his arms and lightly bringing up the collar of his shinel. The boy wasn't expecting the city to be so deserted. Not many people ware out on the streets and it was still fairly early as Feliks had checked. Wasn't Novgorod one of the biggest cities around? Maybe not. Feliks shrugged it off , taking it to his liking.

It must have been early in the morning but due to the lack of normal sunlight Feliks couldn't tell. All he knew was that he walked along the muddy and snow covered streets for quite some times. He was stopped a time or two for documents but some how that routine didn't catch his attention anymore. And so he continued walking , no place to go or stay. _Life was great was it not_. Just as he was walking though , Feliks heard yelling in Russian. He quickly stopped and turned his head towards the yelling just to see a waving boy , somewhere around his own age but taller. The boy was on the other side of the street but quickly made his way towards Feliks. Feliks didn't think he was an officer he didn't look like it at least. Maybe it was his shyness and inability to talk to strangers that got him to turn around avoiding the Russian speaking boy and to try and walk away , though before he had made at least three steps the other male had already crossed the street and had grabbed Feliks's forearm , making him yelp. "Hey comrade wait! I want to ask you where Korsunova street is?" the boy blurred out in rushed Russian making Feliks blink. That was the reason he did _not_ want be around people. "Korsunova street? Somewhere around? I take it as you don't know huh? Man! Just when I though that there finally is someone to ask about directions , d'you that I barely found you and now puff! Boy , I though this city's a bit more crowded , my friend told me so , d'you know that my friend said that if I come here first he'll come after me and now I gotta find a place to stay so he can come soon too and-" the strawberry blond boy continued on and on and Feliks had no idea what he was saying in that rushed Russian and Feliks didn't like talking and not understanding what strangers said. The more confused he got the more angry he was at how he couldn't understand the boy until he finally blew it- "In English!" , Feliks snapped loudly making the other , still talking boy , stop and stare at him lightly. Feliks covered his mouth quickly ready to run if needed. It wasn't needed how ever , at least that's what the strawberry blond's grin said. "Your not Russian too!? That's awesome! Where are you from? What's your name? I'm Mathias Densen , a pleasure to be meeting you." , Feliks blinked in confusion again before taking the others hand and shaking it a lightly , "I'm , like , Feliks-" what should he say? Lukasiewicz? Or Simtsov? This guy apparently was no trouble but still? What if someone was listening? Who should he be for this stranger? "Feliks? Well , it's a pleasure meeting you Feliks! Where are you from? Oh I know! You're from Sweden right? I know a Swede Feliks!" , "Erm , no , I'm not Swedish-" , Feliks was a bit over whelmed by all the questions. He wasn't a Swede , nor was he Feliks Simtsov , but what if that guy told him off to the police? Could he? He was a _stranger_ after all. And , as Feliks had as a motto , _stranger danger_. But what if this guy understood his position? Should he lie to him. Feliks had to turn the current situation to his favor before he lost the strings.

An uncomfortable silence fell over the two. The street was silent and the air was still and cold. It took Feliks awhile to regain his composure but when he did he finally managed to answer the way he would normally. "My name is , like , Feliks Lukasiewicz. I come from Poland and no , I am not , like , a damn Russki nor am I a Swede." , the blond boy puffed out his chest , straightening his back and setting his hands on his sides. Of course he was still shorter than the other and physically looked smaller but that didn't stop him to answer proudly and fully of him self. He _was_ a Pole after all. And not to mention him self. "Wow , a Pole huh?" Mathias mused , "I guess we're in the same boat." , "What do you mean , like , _same_ boat?" , "You don't read newspapers do you?" , Feliks's eye twitched a bit at annoyance. Of course he didn't read newspapers , he couldn't read newspapers as long as he knew no proper Russian. Coming to think of it , he wouldn't read any even then. He needed no commie propaganda. "I apparently don't.". "I figured." Mathias sighted and Feliks then knew that the boy did not want to go on talking about the subject. Nor did he but the other didn't seam to get it as he simply continued: "So if you're a Pole that means you're here illegally?" , Feliks's heart was caught in his throat by now. Surely this guy wouldn't call the police would he? He wasn't from here too! "Problem?" , again Feliks puffed out his chest proudly though in the inside he was terrified by the other's possible response. Images flashed through his mind the scary of all being the following: _The boy yelled for police and the uniformed men came rushing down quickly grabbing little Feliks and quickly shipping him off to Siberia , with no questions or anything_. "Of course not!" , Feliks mentally sighted in relief , "But you do know I gotta tell the police now right?" Feliks eyes shot open to look at the other terrified and not hiding it. Another silent minute passed in which Feliks was ready to beg for the boy _not_ to call him off. Mathias how ever showed no intention to as his lips curled upwards into a big grin and he laughed loudly , a sound that was _not at all_ pleasurable to Feliks's ears. "I got you there didn't I!?" Mathias said over laughter , perhaps this was his way of joking… , "You should have seen you're face! It was priceless!"

For poor Feliks this was not a joke. Though , when you had to revise his own character , such jokes ware his thing too. Mathias was in a way like Feliks , blurring out unfunny jokes in an unfunny moment and then laughing , even his laugh reminded of Feliks's. But Feliks would _never_ admit such similarities. It was '_under his level_' as he would say. "What _the hell_ was , like , so funny!" Feliks snapped , utterly annoyed. Who was this Mathias Densen to laugh at him! Mathias breathed in shakily , recovering from his laughter fit , "Nothing , nothing , I'm sorry. I guess you ware not in the mood for jokes huh?" , "Of course I'm not! I can get killed if you told the police you jerk!" , "Sorry , sorry!". Feliks's eye twitched in annoyance and he huffed turning his back to the other , "Listen here , I , like , have no time to be dealing with you. I gotta , like , find a place to stay." , "You too?!" , "What do you mean '_you too_'?!". Feliks almost shrieked , turning back to Mathias. "Well , I'm here for the first time today , I plan to live here but I have no where to stay , yeah." Mathias bluntly said "This guy on the train station told me to go to Chernyahovska street and there I'll find a place to rent something. I was just heading there…but I guess I got lost?" Mathias laughed slightly at the end of his sentence , Feliks just looked at him blankly. "Hey , I have an idea! What do you say we rent something together and share!?" , "No!" , honestly that was Feliks's plan from the beginning but how could he live with such a person. Feliks just didn't think he could stay around Mathias , he didn't like him at all that much , there was no way he could live with him was there.

A small silence fell over the two , the Dane stood in his place blinking rapidly as the Pole in front of him stood still , eyes darting around the ground as he had a difficult inner conflict with him self. _This was an opportunity_ , a voice in Feliks's head rang , _you may never get the chance , why not try , for your life's sake_. It was kind of the issue. Feliks was going to do this for him self. It would be strange to randomly drag people into leaving with him. He was going to get used to living with this guy. Living alone wasn't an option…and this guy knew Russian! He could teach Feliks , or translate for him. And he didn't seam all that bad did he? Feliks groaned to him self with an unpleased expression. How could he do this to him self…

"Look comrade , I can just leave you , you know. Sorry for the joke and all-" Mathias was just about to say and head his own way before Feliks interrupted him , "Wait!" the Dane quickly turned back to the Pole , "Yeah?" , "Erm…I…decided that-" Feliks couched in his fist , his mouth refusing to let out words "I decided , that , like , since you're alone here and all , I could , like , stay around with you. We're both in the same boat and all…_comrade_." The Russian word left Feliks's mouth full of venom , not so much towards the Dane as much as towards the whole Russian meaning of it. He preferred _friend_ but since the Dane looked fond of _comrade_ he decided to use it in stead.

Mathias's eyes lit up and a wide grin appeared on his face , "Great! So we're going to split the rent for a cool place right?! That's awesome! Ah , also , how much money are you willing to give?". Of course Feliks wasn't really ready to give _any_ money but he couldn't say something like that so he settled on a much more…nice replay. "Erm…I wanna settle , like , on a nice place…the cheapest we can find , erm…I don't want it to be , like , in the middle of the city. Something far if we can find such." Feliks shrugged trying to seam indifferent to the situation. Mathias nodded and walked closer to him. "Okay then , so , d'you know Russian?" , Feliks shook his head , "Not even a tiny bit?" , Feliks was about to answer but shut his mouth and again shook his head a no. He doubted that knowing when you're asked about documents was some serious language knowledge. Mathias just chuckled , making Feliks's eye twitch in annoyance. Who was he to _laugh_ at him?! "Don't worry , I'll teach ya!" Mathias cut in just as the Pole was about to make up a come back. Feliks nodded , a thankful nod , and both of them started walking through the snowy streets of Novgorod in search of a place to stay.

In a city that had the claimed to be one of the biggest cities in Soviet Russia it ended up a lot more difficult to find a place to stay. Hours passed and the two newly found allies couldn't find a place to stay , well , a place that they would like to stay in that is. In a place , where the own business was forbidden , it was very hard to find a place to _rent_. And both Feliks and Mathias had to pass for good Soviet citizens and that made everything a lot harder. In the end they ware going to have to either sleep on the street or buy a house , which was out of the question. In the end , after four hours of searching through the eastern part of the city , Mathias and Feliks ware left with no shelter , and time was running , the weather was getting colder and night was coming. Both of them had no idea how much they had walked. All they knew was that they had passed a river , a big river at that. They ware now in the out skirt of the city as they found out. It was a lonely place , the big living buildings ware giving way to the smaller ones and they on their own gave way to the big deserted fields giving end to Novgorod. On the sides of the smaller streets that led out of the city stood big gas lamps and here and there a racked bench could be seen.

Feliks and Mathias had no idea where they ware , the only thing that showed them was a small sign that read "Ulitsa Pankratova" , that however didn't direct them at all. The both of them now sat on a cold and wet bench on the said street. In front of them , smaller and bigger buildings and some half empty shops , behind them – a smaller ( yet not too small ) river , the dark waters of which ran smoothly down its path. "This is all _your_ fault." , "_My_ fault?! Why should it be , like , _my_ fault!?" , "You're the one who didn't accept that guys offer." , "The place was totally messy! I can not , like , live in such a place!". The two had found some dissent offers with some dissent rents ( the ones that made such offers better hope that the KGB was not watching ) but there was always something Feliks disliked. And there was nothing better they ware going to find on the price they wanted. Mathias secretly grew annoyed with Feliks , and Feliks had just started to grown fond of the Dane. "Look , this way we'll never find a good place to stay." Mathias said looking at Feliks who had his arms crossed and chin raised beside him. Mathias sighted at Feliks's uncooperativeness. "Okay fine , I'll go back to that guy and you can stay here on the street." "Don't you dare leave me!" , Mathias felt his eye twitch as he looked back at the Pole , "Listen , we're not gonna find anything better , the other thing we could do is buy a apartment and that wont happen!". A silence feel over the two and Mathias was ready to sight and leave the Pole think things over but he wasn't ready for the replay he got. "Why don't we." , Mathias gave Felis a confused look , "Why don't we what?" , "You know , like , buy a place rather than renting one. It would be a lot more legal too." Feliks looked at Mathias , a look of pure determination in his green shiny eyes. Mathias raised an eyebrow , "Should I tell you that we barely have any money , we can't effort to _buy_ a place." , Feliks sighted and nodded , looking down. "Then what , we taking that place from before?" he sadly asked without looking up. "I think it's best. The rent was good and it wasn't that bad." Mathias tried to cheer him up , though he doubted he could. There was something in his new companion that trilled him and annoyed him in the same time.

It was silent again between the two and this time Mathias took it as a sine of agreement. He was just ready to say something to cheer up the mood when a low , raspy and stoic voice was heard: "I see you have problems with finding a place to stay?" , startled , both Mathias and Feliks looked at the direction of the voice ( which was to their right ) , Feliks letting out a startled yelp. There , a few feet to their right , leaning against a street lamp , stood a tall male. He wore a dark coat and a blue and white striped scarf. He had a cigar between his lips and his ash blond hair stood up in a haircut similar to Mathias'. His sharp , narrowed , blue eyes ware turned to the two boys and his hands ware crossed over his chest. The man spoke in Russian , though he spoke in an accent that Mathias , nor Feliks , could recognize.

Feliks moved closer to Mathias as the Dane gave a nervous laugh and scratched the back of his neck. "Well , yeah , that's kind of the case comrade." , he said and looked at Feliks , nodding at him lightly. Feliks couldn't understand the gesture much but he thought it was a soothing gesture of some kind. "Erm , might you know a good place to stay?" Mathias continued , looking at the other guy with a nervous grin. "I might , I might not." The tall male shrugged and took a breath from his cigar , exhaling the grayish smoke before continuing , "What matters is , how much are you willing to pay." , "What? What do you mean?" Mathias said , looking even more confused. "What did he say?" Feliks asked silently in return of Mathias's distressed expression. "How much money do we have to give him for a place to stay." Mathias silently said looking at Feliks. "what does that mean?" Feliks said in a whisper again , "I don't know." Mathias whisper yelled before turning back to the man that was giving them the creepy offer. "Well , depends on the place…" Mathias started , unsure of what to say. "And if the place is good enough?" the male continued , "Well , if it is , I guess…we have sixty rubles here…" Mathias patted over his pockets to feel the folded banknotes though the man leaning against the street lamp stopped him , "I have an offer for you , but you have to give thirty more rubles in advance." , this time Feliks understood the man's words and quickly looked at Mathias. "Thirty rubles?! That's insane!" he shrieked and Mathias quickly covered his mouth letting out a nervous laugh and looking back at the man. "My friend here is from…erm , from Sweden , yes! He doesn't speak Russian." , he laughed nervously again and Feliks groaned. Great , now he was even more confused. What was he now , a Pole , a Belarusian or a Swede?! Thank god the other man nodded , seemingly believing the story. "Erm , aren't thirty rubles a bit much?" Mathias asked , trying to low down the price. The man however shook his head. "Thirty rubles , not a kopeck under that price." , Mathias groaned silently and looked at Feliks. "No less than thirty." , he whispered softly and Feliks groened , "That's , like , too much. I am willing to give only sixty rubles for a place , no more than that." Feliks stubbornly crossed his arms and looked away from Mathias. Mathias groaned again and turned towards the waiting man with a little grin , "Can you please wait a second comrade?" , the tall man nodded , seaming to have all the time in the world , as Mathias turned over to the Pole again. "Look Feliks you don't seem to want anything out of the places we checked , lets see what this guy offers and then we'll see if its worth thirty more rubles." It was a hard job to convince the Pole , but after a minute of fuming over the thirty rubles Feliks finally turned towards Mathias with a small nod of agreement. Mathias sighted and turned back to the still waiting male. "We decided to see what you have to offer comrade." , he cheerfully said and stood up , followed by Feliks.

The male at the street lamp straightened and walked towards the two other males. "My name is Tim Mogens." , he said and raised a hand for a hand shake at the two. Mathias nodded and shook his hand , followed by Feliks who was still a bit unsure. "I'm Mathias Densen , this is Feliks." Tim nodded and raised an open palm towards Mathias. "I want my thirty rubles in advance." , he said sternly and Mathias slowly nodded. The strawberry blond Dane started to feel through his pockets , trying to find the money he and Feliks had saved for a place to stay. Feliks watched with a cold expression , still not very happy about having to give so much extra money. Thirty rubles ware quite a thing. Mathias took out some folded banknotes and passed them at the waiting man who took and counted them. Tim pushed the money in his pocket and nodded. "Come with me."

A bad feeling fell over Feliks as he followed the man with his newly found friend. There was a thing that bothered him , a thing that bothered him a lot. He felt in charge when it was just him and Mathias but now. He felt as if he was loosing the situation. He had to be in charge , there as something that just made him want to be in charge of the situation here. He walked behind Tim and Mathias and felt as if he was the weakest thing around , being the shortest out of the three. He needed to get even the smallest control over the situation. It was just in his character…he raised his eyes up at Mathias and at Tim and subconsciously narrowed them. What was going to happen to him now?...

_\- to be continued_…-

* * *

Longest chapter till now~ man , so I do not really know what to say here…Communism strictly bands the own business. Everything comes from the government that's why giving rooms or apartments for rent was strictly forbidden.

A ruble is made out of a hundred kopecks. And thirty rubles is a big thing actually. At least in Communistic times.

For those who are asking why Denmark's surname isn't Kohler as in the fandom – Hide-papa liked the name Densen as a possible surname for him and not Kohler.

For those of you who hasn't figured it out still , Tim = Netherlands. If you remember that episode of Beautiful world where Poland and Lithuania go to Netherlands's house , yeah this chapter's kinda inspired by that.

So this is all for now! Wait for next chapter~


	5. First steps to a new life

The building was big and old judging by the creaking of the wooden stairs. The inside of the building was cold , the walls ware a mixture of wood and concrete. The stairs ware made out of wood , judging by the loud creaking that echoed through the halls with every step Feliks made. To be honest it lightly frightened him but he did not dear say a word. Tim , the tall Dutchman , led the two up the stairs passing by the floors of the building. It was a building quite close to where Mathias and Feliks had met him , a place that didn't catch the eye. It was surrounded by tall yellow weeds and snow covered ground. At first sight Feliks thought it was a ammunition storage. The building had five stories , a rather big building so to say. Tim had led the two up the stairs and was currently walking though the short hall of the fifth floor. To both sides of the short hall , in lines of three , stood doors , painted in dark green ( the paint was falling in places ) and the wood of which was molding. There was a door in the end of the hall and that's where Tim led the two.

The Dutchman opened the door which creaked loudly making Feliks and Mathias flinch. Tim walked into the small apartment and the two boys behind him followed. Their eyes ware greeted by a small hall , the paint was falling off of the walls in some places and on some spots there was mold. There was a opened door that led to another room which was hidden from Mathias and Feliks's eyes from the doorframe. Tim walked exactly in that room , the floor creaking under his heavy steps. Mathias and Feliks looked at each other before following Tim in to a big room. The room was somewhat empty , only a sofa stood in the end of the room , while on the other end , in the corner , stood a dark brown , empty , wooden cabinet beside which was a table surrounded by three chairs , the forth being broken and standing in the other corner of the room. There ware spider webs in the corners of the sealing. A dirty window , that took a part of the wall in front of the door , showed the dirty streets behind the building. As Tim continued to walk over to another door that stood close to the corner of the wall opposite to the small dusty couch , Feliks and Mathias stood dumbfounded at the door frame. Was this what they had given thirty rubles for?

Tim , having felt their discomfort , looked at them from over his shoulder. "Are you coming?" , he asked in his cold voice. "Is this…" Feliks was about to snap but Mathias quickly shut his mouth with his hand , laughing nervously. "Of course we're coming." , the Dane nervously grinned and dragged Feliks towards the room which Tim entered. To their surprise the room was inhabited. It was smaller than the previous room and a bit tighter. Perhaps it was a kitchen. It had a little dusty window that looked as if it was never opened. A small gas stove occupied the corner under the window , beside the wall opposite to the door stood a cabinet of some sort and another one beside it. There was a small table all the way in the other end of the room. The table was covered by a unused newspaper and two or three bottles occupied its end. On a wooden chair beside the table , sat a man. For some reason that man gave Feliks chills and Mathias probably too.

The man looked around Tim's age. He had short , blond , choppy hair that was slicked to the side of his forehead. He looked well build , making little Feliks more uneasy. The blond man looked at the trio. His blue eyes ware narrowed and cold as he looked over Mathias and Feliks though his thin framed glasses. The man then looked at Tim with a stoic expression. "Who's that?" he asked in a gruff and deep voice , a voice that made chills run down Feliks's spine. "They're here to get a place to live in." Tim said , looking at Mathias and Feliks as if asking for conformation. Mathias quickly nodded. "Yes , yes , comrade. Comrade Tim here said we can find a good place to stay , he actually said he can show us a place and we followed and…here we are." , Mathias just couldn't be his usual bubbly self around the blond man before them. There was something disturbing in that presence. Not to mention that he spoke with such a heavy accent it was barely possible to understand his words. Tim looked to be understanding him fine though. The man before them nodded. "We can effort that. There is a free place on the third floor if it suits you." , he said gruffly and Mathias quickly nodded , "Yes , thank you comrade!" , Mathias then turned to Feliks who just stood there dumbfounded. "Feliks , we're going to stay on the third floor." ,"Really?" Feliks mused looking at Mathias who nodded. The small Pole quickly hid his excitement and crossed his arms , "You better hope its not a dump like this place." Mathias laughed shortly at that. "Berwald , this boy here is Swedish too." Tim said bluntly pointing at Feliks who quickly pulled off a shocked expression along with Mathias.

The man in front of them did not change his expression as he looked at Feliks. "Verkligen? Var kommer du ifrån?" Feliks just raised an eyebrow not really sure how to get out of the situation. Just as he was about to say something , he wasn't sure what , Mathias laughed loudly and threw a hand over his shoulder making him flinch. "Oh , that was funny wasn't it!? Right Feliks?" , Mathias laughed as if it was the funnies joke he had ever heard. Feliks only nodded deciding to laugh as well. Maybe what _was_ said was really a joke? Tim and the Swede just gave them weird looks. "Anyway." Mathias breathed out after their little laughing fit , "This is Feliks , I'm Mathias Densen." , he breathed with a little final chuckle. "Berwald Oxenstierna." , gruffly said the blond Swede and Mathias nodded. "Now , about the rent." Berwald continued in his deep baritone voice and accented Russian , "It's normally twenty five rubles per person on a month , plus thirty rubles advanced. Its hard to find a job elsewhere from the factories." Mathias and Feliks nodded in understanding. They ware quite familiar with the way communism was. "I really hope you find it suitable for your likings." , the Swede continued , his expression not changing. Mathias again nodded and Felisk mimicked , deciding that he should…for now. "I'll lead you downstairs now." Tim said , his voice a bit softer than the Swede's.

Mathias and Feliks followed the Dutchman through the door again , stepping into the guest room as it seamed. As Feliks followed behind Mathias through the room however , something caught his eye. The Pole stopped in mid track and turned back a step or two. He turned his head to the wall , his blond hair shifting over his cheeks. His green eyes narrowed as he stared at the picture on the wall. He hadn't seen it when walking in the room. It was a small , dark framed , photo. The only actually photo in the whole room. The only thing that hang on the wall actually , and the only thing that brought color to the room. It was a photo , a color photo at that , of a boy around his mid twenties. He looked a year or two older than Feliks. The boy wore a light green or blue uniform ( the colors ware too faded to tell ) , a heavy winter coat over his thin shoulders and a hat over his probably blond locks. The boy was smiling a closed eye , smug smile at the camera and was saluting. Feliks could make out a gun that hung on the boys shoulder with a leather leash. The picture was old and faded , one of the edges was torn and there ware some sort of brown red stains in the lower left corner. Feliks stared at the picture blankly , trying to make out the winter scenery in the back of the boy and the writing in the upper left corner. However it was futile and Feliks decided to ask.

"Who's tha-" , "My wife.". Feliks sharply turned his head towards the door of the kitchen to see the tall Swede standing there , his expression the same as he last saw it. This time the Swede had started entirely in English. Berwald was indeed not stupid. Feliks's turned his eyes towards the picture again , the Swedes words sinking in his mind. Felis narrowed his eyes and turned back at the Swede. "_Wife_? Dude , this is , like , totally a-" , "Feliks!" , the Dutchman yelled storming back in the room with Mathias on his heels. The small Pole jumped lightly and was about to turn towards Tim before he was forced to meet the Swede's , unnaturally , darkened and narrowed eyes. Berwald was now standing in front of the Pole , his big hand clasped tightly over the shorter boy's coat , lifting him up a bit off the ground. Feliks felt a shiver run up and down his spine in the gap of a second and he gulped. "What ware you going to say about my wife?" Berwald grunted in a low whisper making Feliks go pale. "N-Nice wife you have there…" , he almost managed to choke out as Berwald let him go. Feliks stumbled back a bit , Mathias staring at the scene with disbelieve. Tim didn't seem too surprised. He was quite aware of what could happen , it had happened before after all. Feliks just liked to open his mouth too much , it was in his nature but something like this had crossed the line with the Swede.

Berwald grunted something in replay and went back into the 'kitchen'. Feliks stared a bit in shock and murmured something under his breath , turning back at Mathias and Tim , still a bit shivery. "What was his problem?" Feliks whispered at no one in particular. Mathias just shrugged a bit while Tim again exited the room. Feliks threw a last glance at the photo and quickly turned to exit the dusty room , following Mathias and Tim.

The apartment which Feliks and Mathias entered was not that messed up. It was more dusty and empty. A thick layer of dust covered the little furniture in the apartment. It was exactly like the apartment of the Swede , Berwald , though there was no table or little couch. There was a gas heater in the kitchen place. It was a lot more bare than the apartment of the Swede. Feliks and Mathias found out that there also was another room in the right end of the hall which looked like a bedroom. Inside it was only a bare mattress. In the other end of the hall was a small bathroom with a sink , toilet and a shower with no bathtub. Tim assured that the sink in the bathroom worked. Above the sink , on the tailed wall , hung a dirty mirror. There was mold in the corners of the sealing which didn't make the place more appealing.

Neither Mathias nor Feliks asked Tim anything more , and it seamed like he didn't want to answer anything , as he walked out of the apartment , leaving dead silence behind him. At first neither Mathias nor Feliks knew what to do. Feliks was too lazy and didn't want to clean up as he sat down on the floor under the window. Mathias was a bit more enthusiastic in cleaning but his enthusiasm wasn't _that_ much. So in the end both Feliks and Mathias ended up lying on the floor under the window , staring at the sealing. After some time though Feliks decided to lay down on the mattress. He thought he deserved it. He knew he did. This _Mathias_ knew nothing about the path he had to walk to come to this little dusty and empty apartment so he had no right to claim anything. Feliks called him self a hero , he knew he was and had to be. The Dane wasn't in danger of going to jail , Feliks was. Mathias wasn't worried about being in a country where they spoke a language that he didn't understand , Feliks knew only three or four word in Russian , a different story was when he was being asked for documents and papers. Mathias could proudly say he was Danish while Feliks suffered from the fact that he could never proudly say he was Polish , from the fear that he could be send to a Gulag camp. There ware those small differences that separated Feliks and Mathias and Feliks again felt in charge , thinking about them. He was the true hero and he was going to continue being one. That's how he fell asleep. He was going to be okay , even though he was now sleeping on a dusty mattress today – tomorrow he was going to be sleeping on a king size bed! And that was just his beginning , he was going to do so much more.

"Hnnn…stop hogging the jacket…" Feliks found him self muttering as he felt his shoulders cold. He groaned and started to feel over his shoulder for his shinel. "Oh come on , I'm not hogging it , I'm just cold-" , Mathias whined , finding him self pressing against Feliks as the Pole tore his coat from the Dane's grasp and snuggled in it. It was hard to sleep when you ware freezing and had no comfort at all. Mathias however again reached over , feeling for the worm over coat. "Come on comrade , I'm freezing." , the Dane whined. "Didn't I say , like , no touching!" Feliks snapped and found him self rolling over the one person mattress in attempt to protect his precious worm coat. The next thing Feliks knew was that the Dane was laughing his loud , signature , laugh , and he was groaning and whining on the dirty dusty floor.

The next morning ( Feliks was amused that he had slept that long and that deeply ) the first thing the duo did was to see how much money they had left. With all their calculating they had came up with a hundred and six rubles and sixty three kopecks for their own waste. A decent number , Mathias had stated , at least until they could find jobs. The idea of working didn't appeal much to Feliks , but what had he expected? In a communistic country such as the Soviet Union , not working meant that you ware not a good Soviet and that on its own meant that you would be send to a Gulag camp in Siberia so you can fix your behavior and learn to work for the sake of the Motherland and all that propaganda in which Feliks of course didn't believe.

Mathias , knowing Russian and being entrusted with the money , had went out early in the morning to get food. Feliks on the other hand was left home to clean. Now , Feliks was not at all your average haws wife. He didn't do chores. Actually , he didn't know how he managed back in his previous home. Maybe because he didn't manage…maybe because back home he would pay the local kids to clean his home for him….and that's how Feliks never got to hold a mop or a broom. Honestly it was stupid for a _man_ to _clean_! Not like Feliks had not tried , he did a few times , but every time he started he would fine something more interesting that would occupy his attention. And he wasn't all that energetic when it came to chores. He would slack off many times but that didn't seam like a terrible behavior back in his _own_ home where he could do what he _wanted_.

Feliks had started his cleaning task getting the bucket he had found in the 'kitchen'. He filled the old bucket with water from the bath room and walked with it to the living room , leaving it there. The Pole looked around and suddenly a though hit him: he had no mop to clean the floor with. Coming to think of it , he had no materials to clean at all. Feliks groaned and stomped his foot at the floor with anger , jumping lightly from the loud creek that was heard. Feliks quickly started to think about ways to clean up the floor and not just that but the whole apartment. Again , Feliks had an idea. This time the idea was less appealing to him. The only thing he could use for a mop was a cloth and something of the like he could get from his clothes. Feliks was the type of guy who liked to be fashionable. He had many clothes even though he had pact a small part of them. And he didn't want to ruin any of his clothes for the sake of cleaning! But Mathias would be angry with him when he got home and it was still a mess. But Feliks didn't care! Or did he? He still had to tidy up a bit , for him self , it wasn't cool living around dust. What if he got sick or something.

The blond Pole sighted and slowly walked to his bag-pack. He lifted up the bag in which he kept all his things still and flopped down on the mattress , the springs of which creaked painfully under his petit weight. Felis opened the bag and started to carefully look over his clothes. White shirts , dress pants , more buttoned up shirts , his cap , cloves , a scarf , more shirts and pants. And all Feliks's favorites. Feliks couldn't decide which shirt to ruin for the cleaning task. He had packed the first few things he could get his hands on in a hurry but still he liked the clothes. Picking something that he favored less than the others was a hard task for the Pole. He didn't like the scarf much but he would need it. It _was_ Russia after all , it probably got a lot colder ( not like it was currently worm , Feliks could barely contain his shivers from the zero temperature in the room ). The blond Pole settled on a white buttoned up shirt. It was one of is favorites still but it had this terrible coffee stain from a few months and that was mostly why Feliks had chosen to sacrifice it. That at all did not meant that it was easy for Feliks to let go of the shirt. He truly wondered if he should still continue with the cleaning now when he had no other idea than to turn his precious shirt into a useless cloth.

Feliks sighted miserably and stood up , walking back to the water filled bucket in the middle of the living room. Slowly , he ripped the shirt in two , starting from the neck and going down the middle. Feliks cringed as he examined the ruined shirt. He inwardly whined but held in his pathetic tears and knelt down to the bucket. He took one of the two pieces of cloth and dipped in the water , squeaking at how cold it was. He squeezed the cloth off of the water and started to rub it across the floor weakly. Feliks sighted for a moment and continued to clean the floor. By dawn fall Feliks's hands ware red from the cold water and the hard scrubbing across the floor. Somewhere around half the floor cleaning , the cloth had become so dirty and drenched with dust that Feliks had to change the water in the bucket , even then though the cloth from the buttoned up shirt had become too dirty. All Feliks did from that moment on word was to smear the dirt around the floor. He wasn't meant for such hard work , he was tired and he hadn't even cleaned the living room _floor_ yet. Oh , how he hated Mathias right now for leaving him alone.

Speaking of the Dane , just as Feliks's thoughts drifted to the strawberry blond the front door's lock ( Tim had given them two keys for the apartment ) turned and Feliks looked up weakly to see Mathias grinning happily and carrying some sort of cloth bags. "Fee!~ I'm home comrade!" the cheerful Dane happily sang , poking his head through the living room door. Said Dane was surprised with what his eyes ware greeted with. There , in the corner of the living room , kneeling on the floor , was an angry looking Feliks , his green glassy orbs glaring at Mathias. "Mathias you jerk…" the little Pole muttered behind clenched teeth , "How dare you leave me to clean without cleaning materials!?" Mathias couldn't replay since Feliks threw the dirty cloth , previously being his shirt , at his face with quite good accuracy. Mathias hurried to remove the dirty cloth from his face , choking slightly as some of the cloth touched his , opened , mouth. "What the hell Fee , don't be mad!" he tried to say but Feliks didn't let him finish as he got up and stormed towards him , "Have you any idea what I , like , had to do!? I had to , like , destroy my favorite shirt! All to clean your stupid floor! You , ah!". Mathias waved his hands in front of his chest slightly , wondering how to stop the Pole's tantrum. "Fee , please , I was about to say that I brought cleaning materials-!". Feliks looked up at Mathias , quickly stopping his ranting. "You did what?" , he barely whispered as Mathias grinned and pointed at the bags beside his feet. "I remembered that you have nothing to clean with but I thought that you wouldn't start cleaning with nothing so I didn't bother going back to tell you! Tomorrow we can clean up together with these stuff!". A silence fell over the two. Mathias stood as if he was the hero of the day while Feliks just stared at him silently. Little did Mathias know that Feliks was just about to throw the biggest tantrum he ever had and all because the Dane had forced him to ruin his precious shirt and for nothing a top of that.

It was probably a dissent day out side. From the dusty , dirty window Feliks could see a bit of the city. If he tried to turn his eyes more to the right he could make out the corners of the river in the distance. It wasn't a dark day , though it wasn't very bright either from the gray clouds that covered the sky. Feliks wanted to go out. He wanted to go out a make a snowman out of the dirty snow that covered the frozen ground. He wanted a bit of freedom at least , but he couldn't effort that much for him self. He was still a refuge and he was in danger of being send to jail just for the simple fact that he was born Polish. Strange was it? Feliks had rent a home , a new home. He had found a…a comrade in the eyes of Mathias. He had money much or less. Then why? Why did he still felt uneasy , unsafe. It had been two days since he came and he still felt like a guest in his own home. He just couldn't settle in the new atmosphere of the cold apartment. It was too bare…just not his home.

He couldn't help but have such thoughts , especially so early in the morning. He had woken up before Mathias , the loud Dane was snoring in the bedroom. The short Pole stood in front of the dusty window , the _only_ window in the whole apartment. He stared out of it , the melancholic scene of dirty snow and dark skies comforting him. Mathias had bough some covers , worm wool blankets , so they wouldn't have to share Feliks's shinel at night. Feliks wasn't very happy about the Dane's taste but it wormed him up at night , that was all that mattered. The Dane had bought some food , he told Feliks how he had to go through the whole city to get the food he needed. Feliks laughed inwardly at that. Thank god Mathias didn't have it easy while Feliks had it rough. Mathias had bough other important things the other day. Enough for starters , that is. The Dane told Feliks that he would buy furniture so they wont need to eat on the floor. He said that he would buy a light bulb too , so they won't have to live on candles. A big mouth that Dane had. Feliks wished that he could go out side too. He wished that he could teach the Dane some style. But no can do. Mathias had told him to stay home for a bit , at least while he learned some Russian. And how long would that take?

Feliks shivered lightly as a wave of cold struck him. He mumbled something and rubbed his forearms , deciding to go back to the bedroom and try to get some more sleep. He had claimed the mattress , now that it had dissent covers , while Mathias took the floor. He was about to head towards the bedroom , now even hearing the snoring Dane , but stopped in his tracks. He slowly turned his somewhat saddened gaze towards the door. The old door , the green painting of which fell in places. Feliks's eyes sparkled in that old mischief and that good old feeling returned in his body. The Pole grinned lightly. He had thought that the old Feliks left him on the station , long ago. He thought so at least , but now he knew that it wasn't true. He would always stay the same.

_How he wanted to open that door. Open it and go out side regarding the dangers that might lurk around. He couldn't fight what his heart desired. He didn't have the strength to._

_\- to be continued …-_

Not much to say here…minor SuFin , I guess Feliks _would_ be scared of Sweden much or less , more like much. R&amp;R as always and thanks for reading!


	6. Th benefits of knowing Russian

It was a lot colder than Feliks expected. He tucked him self more into the dark green coat and looked around. He kicked the snow in his feet a bit and started to skip towards the road. The true town wasn't far , Feliks thought that he could take a walk there. He had seen the city only once when he had first came but he never really looked around it. Mathias wouldn't mind. Feliks had silently gotten his over coat and had equally silently made it out of the apartment. He had tip toed all the way down the stairs and out of the building too.

Feliks walked slowly through the almost empty main street. He felt as if he was just walking aimlessly around , which he probably was. He just wanted to look around , he wasn't looking for any specific place. There ware not much people , it was fairly early. It wasn't anything who knows how different from Warsaw , Feliks at least saw it so. It was quite cold though. Feliks had grown up in a little village near Byalistok , the winters ware quite heavy there and it got quite cold though it , for sure , wasn't anything like it was in Novgorod. It was a lot colder where Feliks was now.

The streets resembled little rivers , the melted snow ran down the streets and created puddles of dirty snow water. The street lamps ware turned off. The people ware starting to wake up for the new day which kind of got Feliks a bit bothered. The short Pole would do everything he could to keep him self unnoticed by the Soviet officers that walked around the streets. He got more nervous as he walked further into the city. Something in his guts told him that he had to go home but he neglected the signs in every form they ware. Feliks kept walking around the streets , looking around curiously at the scenery. It _was_ beautiful , more beautiful than the Pole had expected. He tried to spot something he remembered from his first day in Novgorod but everything looked the same. The buildings looked alike and everything as if resembled the weather. Cold and unforgiving , giving way to the harsh winter. Such was life in Russia.

Feliks sharply turned his head back , having heard shallow foot steps behind him. He sighted heavily , a hand on his chest , as he saw nothing behind him. That got him frightened for a bit there. He returned back to his aimless walking , this time turning down an empty and little side street. This time he decided to be on the safe side. That however was the worst possible thing he could have done. Just as he was about to exit the little street , stepping into an opened bigger one , a tall buffed man in uniform showed up in front of him and much to Feliks's dismay the officer had spotted him. "Hey you!" , the officer yelled , the words sounding gruff and cold in Feliks's ears. The short blond stiffened and reached for his breast pocked where his documents had to be just to find out something a lot more frightening. The officer approached him as Feliks felt through every pocket his hands could reach in the hurry , not finding any documents. Feliks didn't knew what was more frightening. That he had no idea what the officer said as he walked towards him or the fact that the very same officer would find out that his documents ware missing and after that there was only one thing that could possibly happen.

"I'm talking to you!" the Russian yelled again grabbing Feliks's by the collar of the coat and lifting the frightened Pole a bit off the ground. The officer's face wasn't at all that charming up close either. He had bushy eyebrows over his dark small eyes , a big mustache between his upper lip and nose , a big , angry looking , face that resembled that of a bulldog's. Feliks gulped and decided to speak after all , fearing the outcome of his silence. "Let me see your documents you scum!" , the officer cut in again , and Feliks _understood_! He understood good enough that he was screwed. How could he? How could he have forgotten his documents? They ware in his shinel right? He didn't took them out of there , could they have fallen out. "I…don't have…" Feliks mumbled in incoherent Russian , breathing in meanwhile. If he wasn't shaking as a leaf before he sure was now as his green eyes met the angry sparkling , small , eyes of the officer. "You don't have them do you?'' the officer said through clenched , yellowish teeth , narrowing his already small eyes at the pale Pole. "Well?!" the Russian spat out shaking Feliks harshly , forcing him to nod. The officer was quiet for a second before starting to roam over his pockets. _He's looking for a gun_. Feliks tightly shut his eyes as he heard a metallic sound from the officers pocket. _He's just going to shoot me now_. The officer grabbed Feliks's wrists roughly making him flinch and yelp before a soft click was heard and Feliks's hands ware bonded together. _I'm going to die now_. Feliks opened his eye and looked down at his wrists to see a pair of hand cuffs over them. _No_! "You're coming with me then , to explain in the station." , the officer mocked , as if happy for catching Feliks. How could he tell him? Tell him that he had documents but they just weren't with him. How could he say it in Russian? For god's sake , what had he done , going out like that out side?! _Mathias was right , he was right , I'm sorry , so sorry comrade , please help me_! Feliks struggled to keep up with the large strides of the officer , tugging helplessly on the cuffs , hoping that maybe , just _maybe_ he could run away. But it was no use. Feliks started to doubt that the officer in front of him even felt the tugging on the chain.

Faliks started to feel even more scared as the officer led him across the city. Some people ware already out on the streets by that time and some of them stared in awe at the scene. Strange as it was , Feliks felt a bit ashamed. Like a child that was caught stealing sweets. The officer half dragged the blond Pole to the center of the city where the city's politburo was supposed to be. Feliks was surprised how far they had to walk to get there. At first sight the building was similar to a minister building. It was bigger than most of the buildings in the city that Feliks had seen so far , it resembled the others around it though. It had many windows and it had two levels. On both sides of the big oak doors hang two red flags with the Soviet emblem on both their top right corners. The officer dragged Feliks through those doors , the opened door shutting behind them with a loud , hallow thud.

The sealing was a lot lower than it looked like. The floor was tiled and the inside of the building wasn't very big. A big desk stood in the corner of the room. Pictures of Lenin , Stalin and other Soviet politics gave the walls color while another red Soviet flag hung in the wall opposite to the door. The whole scenery made Feliks sick to his stomach. The officer groaned at something and made his way closer to the desk , dragging Feliks along. "Irina!" the officer yelled loudly all of a sudden , making Feliks flinch. Small shallow steps echoed from the hall that led further into the building , getting closer. A woman showed up suddenly from around the corner and stopped a few meters from the officer , straightening up and saluting. "D-Da , sir! Podpolkovnik sir!-" the woman tried yelled , shivering lightly. The woman was tall and somewhat slim. She wore a dark green military over coat and a knee long dark green skirt , a small hat with a star in the middle of the front stood tilted to the side lightly over her head. The woman had short blond hair , her bangs pinned to the side of her forehead with pins. One thing that Feliks wouldn't forget was how big the woman's breasts ware. Maybe his eyes stayed at her chest longer than at her face.

"Irina! Where ware you!?" the officer barked and the poor woman flinched. "I-I'm sorry sir." , she tried to defend , "M-My button on my shirt broke and I had to sew it back sir!" the poor girl cried , pointing at her chest to where the button should have been. The officer growled and walked closer to her. "I'm taking this slug to the back , call the head officer and get back to work!". Irina nodded , as if on the verge of tears , and looked at Feliks as the officer started to drag him down the hall. The woman gave him a soft glare of sympathy and turned for the desk.

The officer continued to drag Feliks down a large ,empty hall. They soon reached a door in the end of the hall which the officer opened with a key , before pushing Feliks in. The room looked like an office though it lacked the desk and the many portraits and communistic posters on the walls. It was a bit more bare , a long desk like table occupied the wall opposite to the door , there ware a lot of cabinets near the walls. Feliks however had no time to look around and muse. The officer quickly pulled him down on a chair near the desk like table and unlocked one of the cuffs around his wrists , locking it to the chair. Feliks groaned softly and tried tugging on the cuff again but it was no use. The officer mockingly laughed and spat out something in Russian which Feliks thought was a curse , before heading to exit the room , shutting the door and locking it after words. Feliks tried a lot harder to tug on the cuffs now that he was alone but the only thing he did was hurt his wrist. He looked around franticly not seeing anything useful and in reach. Though even if he got out of the cuffs he wouldn't be able to get out of the room since the door was locked. This put his into a difficult situation. He slid down on the chair , sliding his free hand onto his forehead , feeling more than terrible. He breathed in deeply and shakily , trying hard to relax him self but how could he. He wished for a miracle. Something that looked stupid to him before but could solve the problem now. And though such thing did not exist he wished to keep his hope up.

His thoughts suddenly drifted to Mathias. What was the idiot Dane doing? Was he awake? Had he noticed that he was missing? Was he looking for him? Even if he was looking for him he would never think about the current situation , of course. Another shaky sight left Feliks. It was indeed hopeless. Just as Feliks felt ready to cry as a soft knock was heard and the shot Pole turned his head back to the door. Felisk heard the lock of the door turn and the door creaked open. To Feliks's amusement in the door frame stood the woman from earlier. The shaken girl made a step into the room and tried pulling off a smile. "Podpolkovnik Lopakin's gone , I thought that I could bring you some coffee." , the girl spoke in accented Russian that made Feliks shy out and look away slightly. "I don't speak Russian." , the Pole mumbled making the woman blink. "Excuse me?" she spoke softly again. "I don't…speak Russian." , Feliks started off loudly but mumbled his words in the end. "Do you speak Russian?" the woman asked a bit loudly. Feliks sighted and shook his head. "I do not speak Russian!" he spoke finally , loudly and clearly for the woman to hear. "Oh , so that's why you're here?" the woman asked in English , closing the door behind her back and walking closer to the chair where Feliks sat. Feliks saw the woman holding a white , porcelain cup in her hands. "I forgot my documents in home that's why." Feliks mumbled again and when he looked back at the woman he saw a shocked expression on her pale face. "Oh god , you poor thing!" the woman almost sobbed out , leaning a bit down to be on Feliks's level , said Pole blushing lightly from the comment. "I can not believe this , to think that tovarishch Lopakin took you in for such a terrible misunderstanding! Where are you from?" , Feliks looked down for a second before looking back at the woman , "I'm from Belarus." , he quickly said and the woman looked even more surprised. "I can not believe this , and you should be our comrade! And you do not know Russian too , that's why you could not have told podpolkovnik what happened , yeas?" the woman looked at him softly as he nodded. "Oh , poor thing. But do not worry! I will help you!" Feliks looked up at the woman quickly , looking as shocked as her a moment ago. The woman stood up quickly , her big breasts bouncing slightly with the movement. "You said you left you're documents in home yeas? Well don't worry! I shall retreat them for you , and so you will not have problems!" , "But-" , "Just tell me where you live. I will be back before podpolkovnik notices even!" , "Wait , but-" , "He went to get the main officer , he won't be back in a while , I'll have time.". What should he do now? He tried so much not to get into trouble now he was going to get the Swede and Tim in trouble. If this secretary found out she would most likely tell that director or what ever he was , and Feliks did not want the rage of the Swede and Tim on him. He had to fill her on the secret but it was still no good. Maybe if he told her to find Mathias he would explain to her better. "So , tell me where you live. Do you have a key in you? And what is you're name , do you have people that know you?". Even though the woman seamed annoying , Feliks could tell that she was just trying to help. Honestly. And that was the thing he needed. He was sure Mathias would explain to her , yeas , and then Mathias was going to explain to the police too. This was the opportunity Feliks needed , he had to take it. "Look now." Feliks turned to the girl with a determined look , "I live , like , near the river , but listen! I'm here from , like , two days or so , I live with this guy named Mathias. He's from…from…erm , Denmark I think , he has this spiky strawberry blond hair , it's totally spiky you won't miss 'em! But listen now , I live , like , in the end of the city , yeah , and it's like , a street from that big river , it's like a dump really , you won't miss it! You look for Mathias , yeah , he'll tell you what to do , just find Mathias!" , the woman nodded and turned back quickly , hurrying to the door before stopping right on and turning back to Feliks. "I almost forgot! Your coffee!" she quickly said passing the cup to Feliks. "No , thanks , I don't drink coffee.". The woman looked utterly shaken. "I-I'm sorry…I-I should have known!" she bowled , hiding her face in her hands , almost dropping the cup. "It's…no…problem." Feliks said softly , raising a braw at the strange woman. Maybe she would be too stupid to ask Mathias questions?

The blond woman nodded and whipped her eyes , heading towards the door again , before again stopping at it and turning back at Feliks. "I did not hear you're name." she softly said , "I'm Irina Chernenko , maybe you knew from earlier." , Feliks nodded lightly , recalling the officer yelling he name earlier. "I'm , like , Feliks. A pleasure.". Irina nodded and pulled off a soft , half hearted smile , before exiting out of the door , locking it. Was that it? Feliks had to wait now. The waiting would get on his nerves but he had to go through it. Lets hope that the officer really did come back really late as the woman had said.

Irina was really clumsy. Her chest would get in the way of her work due to the size of her 'knockers'. She had came from a really poor family. When communism found its self in Ukraine the poorness of her family increased thus resulting into her going to Russia in hopes of a better living. It was hard however for her to keep her jobs in the factories due to her clumsiness , she had no minor education to get a better job either. She honestly had not idea how she had gotten the post of a politburo secretary. That was something she had never even wished for. She had gotten a good place to live in , she send her family some money every now and then , she did good at work or so she hoped. She had always been good hearted and always tried to help people no matter what. Truth was that she could easily be taken advantage off since she wasn't very smart. She took her self as a normal woman that came from a poor shepherd family. She never really changed , no matter the fact that she was now working in a politburo and was a city like Novgorod. She still stayed the naïve , poor and uneducated girl , daughter of a poor shepherd. Then how had she gotten into a situation such as this?

Running down the fairly crowded street , hugging her coat close to her out of habit , panting and tired but not stopping. Irina felt the need to help the poor boy , accused of betrayal against the great Soviet Union. She didn't even let the thought that that boy could truly _not_ be innocent. She had seen innocent people and guilty people and that boy was innocent. She didn't question anything in her life , she took things as they ware and never questioned them since if they ware so then it was possible for them to be so. That's why she didn't question the boy when he said he was from Belarus , or why he was living with a Dane , or why he had no documents. All the things he said ware supposed to be true there for they ware possible.

She didn't know where exactly she was running to but she knew she had to get to the out skirts of the city. She had to find a strawberry blond Dane. A person with a strange hairdo it seamed. Good , she could do that much. The poor Ukrainian stopped slowly , leaning against a street lamp for support. She had to stop for a bit. She breathed in deeply and looked around. She was near the city end , near the river maybe. She wasn't so sure where she was really since she didn't know the particular part of the city too good. She sighted and slowly straightened up to resume her running. She ran a couple of more blocks though , when something strange happened.

Jus as she was turning over a corner she bumped hard into someone. Perhaps the other person was running as well since when they bumped into each other Irina fell back on the ground , hitting it painfully. The blond Ukrainian groaned softly and started to apologize , lifting her self off of the cold and wet ground almost too quickly. She opened her eyes and saw a strawberry blond boy. Her blue eyes widened slightly. _He has this spiky strawberry blond hair , it's totally spiky you won't miss 'em!_ Irina remembered the description that Feliks gave her. The man before her matched it.

Mathias had woken up to an empty room. The mattress on which Feliks slept was empty and unmade. It wasn't just that , the Pole wasn't in the apartment at all. All kinds of thoughts went through the Dane's mind , did his comrade in deed not listened to his advice not to go out!? Mathias was a dedicated type , he couldn't leave his comrade to run around the city in which the people , _literally_ , did not spoke his language. The Dane had ran out of the apartment as quick as he could and started to run in various directions , trying various streets , looking in various places but it was no use. The Pole had as if vanished. Just as Mathias was running though , in a good second , he bumped into someone. He stumbled back from the impact and when he opened his eyes he saw a woman. A blond woman that for some reason was staring at him.

"I'm…sorry , I'm sorry for bumping into you , erm , comrade." Mathias apologized and quickly started to walk past the woman , he had no time to waste. The woman behind him however whimpered and threw her self on his arm , tugging him back. "No , please , stay! You need to help me!" , Mathias looked at her , wide eyed , "What do you mean?" he asked with concern. "Y-You…you're name is Matvei right? Eeep , no , no , Mathey! Or no…oh no , I forgot the name he told me!" , the woman bowled in distress , pressing her palm against her forehead. Mathias blinked in confusion and turned back fully to face the woman , taking a hold of her shoulders. "My name is Mathias , comrade , what of it?" , the woman's eyes seamed to shine as he looked back at the Dane. "Yeas , yeas! Mathias , quick , you have to help-" the woman stopped in mid sentence ,"Help who?" Mathias urged. "Erm…erm..I-I forgot!" the woman cried out again , hiding her face in her hands , her shoulders quivering from invisible sobs. Mathias mentally sighted. So far this woman was wasting his time and he had no time to waste at all! The woman continued to try and form a sentence but Mathias was getting even more annoyed. "Look , comrade , I do not know what you're talking about nor where you know my name from but I have no time so if you please-" ,"Wait!" , the woman cried again making Mathias scared about her health for a bit. "Please wait! T-There's a boy! This blond boy! He told me to look for Mathias , you have to get him his documents quick or else podpolkovnik will come and!-". Form that moment on word Mathias had a good idea what the woman was trying to say.

"What happened to Feliks!?"

Mathias got the woman to relax with great effort so she could tell him what happened with his friend. He actually tried not to laugh at how stupid the story was. It might have been stupid but the consequences ware at all not stupid. Mathias just couldn't believe how stupid his new friend could be. How could he forget his _documents_? He couldn't have been _that_ stupid , he didn't look like a _complete_ idiot did he? What was done was done however and he had to help his friend. Thank god this woman was good enough to offer her help in such a serious situation. "Okay," Mathias assured the woman after she was finished with her story , "I will now go and get his documents , you stay here , and do not move! You're going to have to take me to where he is!" , Mathias was about to turn and run back to where they lived before the woman , who was now known to him as Irina , stopped him again. "Pease wait! One more thing!" , the Dane looked at her , raising an eyebrow. "Please , come back quickly." Irina looked genuine in her kindness , something a normal Soviet citizen would not have been. Mathias nodded and smiled softly to assure her that everything would be fine. After words he ran off , leaving Irina alone.

When Feliks heard the lock turn he was positive that Irina would enter the door with Mathias on her heels. He quickly looked towards the door , waiting for the nightmare to be over , however it wasn't even near over. Much to Feliks's dismay and horror the officer from before entered the followed by a tall , buffed man with ash blond hair and what seamed to be a colonel uniform. Another male entered the room though he was a bit shorter than both the officer and the suspected colonel , that's why Feliks didn't saw him earlier. "Tovarishch Braginsky , comrade Balakov , this is the rat that I caught today on the streets. He doesn't seem to talk and has no documents." , the officer introduced in Russian though Feliks was too busy staring holes into the ash blond man in front of him. Said man smiled coldly , something that gave Feliks shivers , and returned the glare. "Podpolkovnik Lopakin , I see that this is something that requires the help of tovarishch Braginsky , da?" , started the shorter male that stood next to the big Russian. He was an inch shorter than the officer , had black hair and a somewhat pale face and wore a green uniform with black pants and leather boots. Strangely Feliks did not recognize the uniform of the male , nor did he recognize the male as Russian. "Tovarishch Braginsky , it would be best if we find out why the prisoner doesn't talk before we-" , "Don't give commands comrade Alexander.", the tall Russian spoke coldly , looking at the dark haired male. "It would be best to leave things to me , da? I assure you , this young man will speak and we will know why he has no documents and who he is by lunch time. Podpolkonik Lopakin , comrade Balakov , I think it is now best to leave me- us , so we can have a nice talk , da?" , at his last words the Russian turned his eyes towards Feliks. The Pole tried to keep eye contact but there was something in the violet eyes of that man that just chilled him to the bone. Feliks found him self averting his eyes to stare at the floor , hearing a low , barely noticeable chuckle from the Russian. The black haired male didn't look very appealed but he didn't want to bring the anger of his superior on him self , thus he nodded and turned towards the office. "Podpolkovnik , we shall now leave the work to tovarishch Braginsky. Please come with me." , he said and proudly buffed out his chest , turning towards the door with the officer on his heels. For some reason , Feliks felt the temperature of the room drop with degrees as the other two left him alone with the Russian. "Now , I wish you to talk , so we can sort out the reason you shall be send to Siberia , da?"

Feliks wasn't a scared weakling , he just wished he spoke Russian so he could show the damn commie a thing or two.

Irina was getting very worried , as she leaned against the cold wall. The Dane had been gone for over half an hour. Irina was sure that the head officer would be at the politburo to investigate soon , she had been gone for over an hour. She hopped that Feliks didn't have to deal with the scary head officer. Irina had met him only once and honestly didn't want to meat him again. And that annoying guy that always followed him around was not as good as he looked. Inwardly he was like a fox. She had no idea how a person like the head officer could stand him.

Irina tried to avert her self from such thoughts , looking again at the direction Mathias ran off to. He had to come back soon. She sighted and closed her eyes. Perhaps Mathias and Feliks lived farer than she thought? A wave of relief washed over her however , when she opened her eyes and saw the approaching figure of Mathias in the close distance. She smiled and sighted , a hand on her chest. "Thank god! I'm so glad you're here!" , she exclaimed as Mathias came up to her. The Dane panted as he stopped and took deep breaths. "The…documents…ware...under the mattress!" Mathias tried to say through breaths and pants , straightening up. "I can not believe it. I'll ask him about these when I find him." Mathias waved the small black booklet a bit and pushed it in his pocket. "We have no time , we have to go quickly!" Irina grabbed his arm and tugged him with her.

They both ran down the streets and turned corners. Perhaps they ware a strange scenery at first sight. It was after a few block when the scenery started to look familiar to Irina and unfamiliar to Mathias. The Ukrainian woman continued to run , the Dane trying to run after her as fast as he could. They soon reached the center of the city and the politburo. Irina felt as if crying of joy. She had done it , she would fix a big misunderstanding. She waited for a second for Mathias to catch his breath and when they ware ready Irina opened the door and led Mathias inside.

To their surprise ( and Irina's horror ) in the main room , near the desk , stood the officer , Lopakin , and two other men. The officer looked at Irina with an angry expression. "Chernenko! Where the hell ware you!?" , Irina flinched but forced her self to explain. "Sir , podpolkovnik Lopakin , please! There has been a big misunderstanding with the boy you brought in!-" , "Who are you to put your nose into other people's business!". Irina felt as if she wasn't going to have the chance to explain. To her surprise however one of the two men beside the officer piped in. which was surprising was that that was none other than the head officer. _Ivan Braginsky_. "Comrade Lopakin , why do yell like this at this poor woman?" , the officer flinched and looked at him. "B-But , tovarishch-" , "No buts comrade. Please , comrade Chernenko , was it , continue.". Irina nodded and tried to pull the word out of her mouth. "Sir , sir tovarishch Braginsky! There had been a terrible misunderstanding! The boy that podpolkovnik brought in , he has documents , look!" , Irina looked at Mathias who nodded and quickly took out the booklet from his pocket , holding it up in front of the three men.

The three men looked equally surprised. "What is the meaning of this podpolkovnik Lopakin?" , the black haired male that stood beside Braginsky turned demanded , looking at the officer sternly. "S-Sir , tovarishch Balakov , he had no documents , he didn't talk he could even understand me! Tovarishch Braginsky you must have understood while you ware interrogating him!". At the word _interrogation_ Irina and Mathias stiffened but tried to push aside the bad thoughts. "Citizen , can I see those papers?" , Braginsky's cold voice ran through the air and Mathias nodded quickly , walking closer to him to give him the small booklet. The officer looked through the document and raised an eyebrow. "Hm , everything seems alright. Feliks Simtsov , Belarusian , nineteen. Comrade Balakov , mind you?" , Braginsky passed the booklet towards the male to his right , said male taking it and looking through it. "Everything seems genuine. And who are you?" the officer asked Mathias. "Oh , I am Mathias , Mathias Densen! Erm , here." , the Dane touched over his pockets , gladly pulling out his own documents. Balakov took the booklet , looking through the information and giving special notice to the visa. "Everything seems okay too. Welcome to the great Soviet Union." , Balakov said returning the documents to Mathias who nodded. "Thank you com- I mean tovarishch." Mathias quickly said and Balakov nodded. In the mean time Braginsky turned towards Lopakin , said officer stiffened under the cold gaze. "Podpolkovnik Lopakin." Braginsky narrowed his eyes and waved the black booklet in front of him , "Mind you?". With a shaky hand the officer took the booklet and looked through it. "E-Everything looks fine tovarishch." , Braginsky nodded and took back the booklet. "Da , everything looks fine."

"This is an outrage , podpolkovnik! How dare you call us on such a fake occasion!" Balakov piped in , showing off his fake authority. "There , there , comrade Alexander. Podpolkovnik Lopakin shall be punished for the misunderstanding. You should not have called us before straightening off the case for your self. We will figure out the things later , you will get a massage with your punishment-" , "But tovarishch Braginsky!-" , "Comrade Lopakin please." , the tone of Braginsky's voice was enough to make Lopakin stop with his words. What was said was final especially if it was said by _Ivan Braginsky_. "As to you citizen _Densen_." Braginsky continued , looking cheerily at Mathias , "Comrade Chernenko will take you to the _back door_ , where you can retreat your friend , but…keep in mind , you'll have to take _good care_ of him home and…be sure he learns Russian. So things of the like won't happen _again_.". Mathias gulped slightly at the chilled and yet cheerful tone the officer used but nodded non the less , trying to pull off a smile even. "Do not worry tovarishch , I'll make sure such stuff don't happen.". The Dane was sure that the Russian would ask more questions but the he did not , just nodded with a cheerful glee. "I'm glad , now , comrade Balakov , let us go. And comrade Lopakin please keep in mind that you are suspended from work till second command. Da?" the question sounded more as a command to which the officer was ready oblige , especially after the glare the Russian send him when he passed through him , walking towards the door.

Irina wasted no time in grabbing the little key from her desk and quickly tugging Mathias towards the back door. The officer didn't even dare say a word , obviously shocked from the outcome of the events. The Ukrainian quickly walked to the back door and clumsily unlocked the door. Inside the room they ware greeted with a _very_ terrible looking Feliks. Mathias couldn't believe his eyes. He secretly wondered if that was what the Russian meant by 'you'll have to take good care of him home'. The Pole , still stripped with one cuff to the chair , looked pale aside from the red bruise and scratches on his cheek and the darkening mark around his eye. A steady stream of blood flew down his nose and from the corner of his mouth. Though when his green eyes met the sight of the two entering the room some color surely returned to his face.

Feliks had gone through a lot of moral and physical beatings through his life. During the interrogation of the Russian he had acted like a true man , not saying a word. Eventually Braginsky was tired of him as it seamed , pulling his gloves and scarf ( which he had folded carefully and left to the side ) back on and exiting the room. When he heard the door unlock Feliks swore that he was back. That's a reason why he was so happy at the sight of Irina and Mathias entering the room. "Oh god!" Irina exclaimed running to Feliks's side. "Comrade you look terrible." Mathias whistled joining her at his side. Feliks just tried to grin at the comment , which he found _painfully_ hard to do. "I feel terrible too. That guy's , like , a total macho." Mathias laughed slightly at that. "Oh god , where is the key for the cuffs?!" Irina cried again , looking around franticly. "I think major horror left took it with him." Feliks mumbled gesturing towards the door. "Podpolkovnik might have it , I'll go check." Irina nodded and ran out of the door , leaving Mathias and Feliks alone. Somehow Feliks felt more uncomfortable like that. He looked down and turned his back at Mathias shamefully. Mathias sighted lightly behind him. "Look what happens when you don't listen to me." , the Dane hummed under his breath. "It wasn't my fault!" Feliks mumbled refusing to turn back at the Dane. "Heh , and oh yeah , what ware your documents doing under the mattress." , Feliks didn't answer , not having an answer him self. Mathias just smiled. He felt as if he was nagging at a stubborn child for stealing candy. "Next time carry your documents. And also! Once we get home I'm starting to teach you Russian. _Silly Pole_." Mathias softly mumbled the last part as so Feliks didn't hear. Feliks just smiled. It was a big thing to have a friend huh. He had never taken friendship as anything more than granted. It was probably a lot more.

After Irina came back Mathias unlocked the cuff , freeing Feliks's sore wrist. Irina gingerly cleaned up his wounds , after which Feliks and Mathias begged a farewell with the naïve and clumsy Ukrainian , promising to come by again. At that , Irina cried out something about it being bad luck and shushed them up quickly. The two walked back home , picking food on the way. Feliks didn't understand that tendency. Why ware all the stores half empty? And why did he have to wait to get a bill and _then_ get his groceries? He felt as if he would never understand the Russians.

They ware back home quite late. Snow started to softly fall down. Once inside their shared home they lit a candle and started to fix something quick to eat. The had to buy something to cook soups or worm food with. Like the gas stove they saw in the apartment of the Swede. But that would come on a later level perhaps.

Mathias couldn't stop with his questions. How was it in the custody , what did he feel like , was he scared , how come he got caught and many more. Feliks just talked like a hero and of course exaggerated some facts. The night went on , and in the end they both found them selves asleep. Feliks however couldn't sleep. Not before tucking his documents in the pocket of his shinel and the shinel under his head as a pillow. He wasn't getting his documents lost again.

_\- to be continued …-_

Again a long chapter!~ for those who might not noticed , in this chapter I put in the characters of Ukraine – in the fandom the name Yekaterina or Katyusha ( derived from Yekaterina ) is used more commonly but Hidekaz Himaruya has stated that he liked the name Irina Chernenko for her , that's the name I used here.

Alexander Balakov is Bulgaria – a guy who always (except once) stood beside Russia and tried to get fake reputation out of that as I see it. Why BG says 'da' like Russia's tick? Perhaps because that's the yeas in Bulgaria too!

I think Russia fit his character in this. This was easy to write!

Thanks for reading and I hope you liked! R&amp;R as always!~


	7. Things change

"_Mathias where are you going!?" _, those words echoed painfully in his mind as he revived the scene once more.

"_I told you , I'm leaving." , "But why!? You can't , like , leave me here alone in this dump!" , the obviously angered Pole stomped down heavily , not carrying about the loud creek that came out from the pained wooden floor. The Dane didn't seam to care as he continued to pack his things._

The strawberry blond Dane continued to hurry down the crowded street , his heart aching from the sudden memory.

"_Mathias!" , the Dane didn't turn around , he didn't dare look at his friend's face. "Mathias , at least tell me why you're leaving!". The Dane stopped , a few feet from the snowy street , frozen weeds crunching beneath his shoes. "It doesn't matter." , he coldly said , still not turning back. "It matters! It totally matters!" , the Pole continued to press , "We , like , came here together didn't we! Only a week! What kind of a sick mind are you to , like , leave now!?". The Dane resumed his walking , turning up the street. _

"A one way ticket to the closest town in Finland please." , the Dane said , out of breath , to the woman at the ticket booth at the train station. He couldn't stop that thin voice from echoing in his mind. However though , he needed to do other things. Some things ware more important than others. Same went with friendships.

"_Mathias! Why are you leaving all of a sudden , at least tell me! You damn Dane! Come back here!"_

Mathias's blue eyes took in the sight of the station that had appealed him so when he first came. The flickering city lights begged him farewell as he leaned his head on the window of the wagon. He closed his eyes , trying to push away the nagging , squeaky voice that as if haunted him. The emptiness in his chest as if got bigger rather than going away.

_\- seven hours earlier_ –

The day started off with the falling of soft snow. People ware walking around the streets , cars drove by , splashing water at the passing people. It was quite cold out side though the movement around the city gave a worm look to the scenery. Around the outskirts of the city however the people ware less , giving the opposite feeling to the scene. Empty , snow covered and frozen fields lied over the river. The soft breeze blew little clouds of snow with it self giving the scene a ghostly look.

A week had passed since Feliks had come to Russia and about two days since he had came to call his new home truly _home_. He woke up late that morning. It was Saturday maybe. He hadn't been thinking about the days , he just let them slip through his fingers ever since he came. He had woken up by the opening and closing of the front door , heavy foot steps entering the living room. He groggily opened his eyes and yawned , not bothering to move from the mattress. He closed his eyes again , tying to fall asleep , though his attention was again brought up when he heard something from the kitchen. He groaned and tried to ignore the sound but he quickly shot up when he heard a voice from the kitchen. _It wasn't the voice of Mathias_. Faliks wobbled a bit , having gotten up from the mattress too quick , as he walked towards the closed bedroom door.

He slowly walked towards the living room but didn't enter it , trying to listen to what the people in the kitchen ware talking. He couldn't hear though so he slowly stepped inside the living room , hoping that the wall between the little tight kitchen and the living room would prevent him from being seen. He could faintly hear the sound of Mathias's voice. They ware whispering , as if aware that he might still be asleep and thus trying not to wake him. Feliks was too caught up in trying to hear what they ware saying that he didn't hear them starting to slowly walk towards the door to the living room from the kitchen. He squeaked , startled , when Mathias and Tim , the Dutchman that had first brought them to the building , exited the kitchen. Mathias looked surprised to see him pressing against the opposite wall. "Oh , Fee , good morning!" the loud Dane greeted cheerfully. "Mathias you jerk! You could have given me a hear attack!" the Pole huffed , crossing his arms , "And why is he here?" , he subconsciously gestured towards Tim who was standing beside the Dane. "He's here to help with the surprise!" Mathias exclaimed , lifting his hands up over his head. The Pole raised an eyebrow. "What surprise?" , Mathias grinned at the question. "Come and see comrade!"

Feliks didn't know what to say really. He wasn't very surprised since a surprise for him was a new shirt or new shoes or something new to wear in general. He didn't know what to say about the wooden table and the three chairs that stood in the back of the tight kitchen , not to mention the gas stove that stood at the side of the table and chairs. They looked like second hand furniture too. "Where did you , like , get all that?" Feliks asked looking back at Mathias. "Awesome right! But it wasn't me , it was Tim here , I just asked him about furniture when I was walking down the stairs to go to the post office and he was more than happy to help me out! Who knows he knew a guy!" Mathias laughed , something that the Dutchman beside him didn't took very nicely. "I thought it would be a pain for you without a stove at least." Tim started explaining "So I though I could help. I hope you enjoy eating on a table and having worm food for dinner.". The Dutchman started to head off towards the door , Mathias waving after him with a grin. "Thanks again comrade! I'll be calling you for sofas and carpets later!" , the Dane laughed as Tim shut the front door behind him.

Feliks looked back at the table and the chairs. "We should , like , totally put those in the big room , near the wall." , he offered , "Where did you get money for these stuff anyway?". Mathias groaned softly and shrugged. "Don't ask , enjoy the new piece of true furniture!". Feliks nodded , not really thinking the subject further. It was good to have new furniture indeed. Worm food for dinner and a table to sit at while eating sounded well. After they moved the table ( more like Mathias did ) and chairs to the living room corner , opposite to the door , as Feliks wished , they spend at least an hour on Feliks's Russian lessons. The Pole actually followed quite well when it was being explained to him slowly and clearly. It was like talking to a kid in the kindergarten really. They had been spending time on Feliks's Russian for the last few days. The Pole now knew some of the basics and could explain the lack of documents on him when needed ( Mathias still laughed at the earlier experience ).

After the little lesson , in around twelve , Mathias left for the post office. He told Feliks that he had send a letter to a friend in Norway when he first came so he was now waiting for a replay. Feliks honestly tried not to laugh at that. Was the Dane so naïve as to think that letters from Russia could reach occupied Norway? Miracles ware possible but the exact miracle was something possible only in the Dane's dreams. Let him dream though.

Feliks had learned not to leave when it wasn't needed there for he stayed home. He sat on one of the new chairs which he had pulled in front of the window , staring at the out side scenery. His current life was boring , the only interesting thing was when he got pulled in by the police. But he didn't want to go through that again so the only thing he could do was stare in front of the window. The only movement his eyes _detected_ , so to say , was the falling of the small snowflakes that came down from the gray sky. In moments like these his mind wondered back. He didn't want it to happen but it did. He could hear gunshots , he could as if smell the gunpowder , he could feel his own breath raging from his chest and his small heart pounding wildly. But he tried to push aside those thoughts. Instead his mind wondered in the present. He had to find a job , didn't he? The thought didn't appeal to him but he had heard from Mathias ( who was already working on finding a job ) that if he wanted to look normal in Russia he had to work. It's not like he couldn't handle it , one way or another he was going to start working , especially when his money ran out eventually. It was more that he was a bit too lazy. He didn't want to think about work , though he couldn't sit around all day either. It was one of those situations in his life when he wanted one thing but then again he wanted something completely different too! And the worst part was he couldn't have them both. It was like choosing between two shirts that he liked but had money only for one.

Time passed painfully slow when he had nothing to do but since he was in a way scared to go out side ( it was too cold out side too ) he had to stay home and find something to do , which was really hard. He passed the few hours that Mathias was out in blank staring at the window and rolling around the much cleaner floor. He wasn't ready however for what happened with Mathias's arrival home.

He had waited passionately for his friend's arrival since he was supposed to pick some groceries on the way back for a stew or something. Not to mention he was supposed to buy some sort of dishes , god knows from where.

Feliks was left dumbfounded though when Mathias burst in the apartment , shutting the door behind him. The Pole quickly jumped out of the chair he had been sitting on and looked towards the door. Mathias had bolted towards the bedroom the minute he had stepped inside the apartment. Feliks walked to the bedroom , his eyes widening in surprise at the sight. _Mathias was packing his things_. Not like he had unpacked much , there was no place to put the stuff except in their bags thus they had not bothered taking them out. Before the Pole could say anything Mathias pushed his way through him and walked to the bathroom , taking his toothbrush and again walking towards his bag after words , stuffing said toothbrush in it. It was a minute before Feliks found his voice but it was not him who broke the uncomfortable silence.

"_I'm leaving_." Mathias muttered , his back facing Feliks.

The Pole secretly knew it was something of the sort. He didn't know why though. Why would Mathias leave?

"Mathias where are you , like , going?!" Feliks asked , trying to sound as serious as he was , though his 'like' saying habit threw him off..

"I told you , I'm leaving." , "But why!? You can't , like , leave me here alone in this dump!" , the obviously angered Pole stomped down heavily , not carrying about the loud creek that came out from the pained wooden floor. The Dane didn't seam to care as he continued to pack his things_._

Mathias slung his bag over his shoulder and turned towards the door. He too like Feliks hadn't brought many things , though he wasn't in a rush when packing , he knew from the start he won't stay in Russia for long. He personally had expected to stay longer but there was no way now. Feliks walked after his friend as Mathias passed him and walked out the door. "Why are you leaving!?" Feliks raised his voice as Mathias exited the door. The Dane again didn't answer , just continued down the creaky stairs. Feliks of course , being stubborn , followed , even though he was clad in only his dress shirt and pants. "Mathias answer me!" the Pole demanded , this time pulling Mathias back by his sleeve. The Dane just waved his hand off and continued towards the front door of the building. There he stopped , without looking at Feliks. "You're going to pay you're rent , find a job , I left some money under the mattress too." , the Dane started to explain putting Feliks in a miracle , "I hope you take care , comrade." , "Mathias wait!" , the Dane opened the door and started to walk out side into the crunching snow. Feliks of course ran after him , refusing to let something like this happen. The Pole didn't seam to care about the cold that struck him as he exited the front door , he needed to keep Mathias beside him , he couldn't do anything alone and he admitted it to him self. "Mathias wait! What about teaching me Russian , you can't leave me here!-" , "You know enough Russian , you'll figure stuff out ahead of time." , the Dane continued to walk not turning back. "Tell me why you're leaving at least! _Mathias_!" the Pole shrieked and a thought ran through Mathias's mind. Did he owe the Pole an explanation? Perhaps it was painful to watch your friend go without knowing why. But Mathias didn't owe him an explanation , he wouldn't understand even if he told him. He had no time to waste in explaining too.

"Mathias!" , the Dane didn't turn around , he didn't dare look at his friend's face. "Mathias , at least tell me why you're leaving!". The Dane stopped, a few feet from the snowy street , frozen weeds crunching beneath his shoes. "It doesn't matter." , he coldly said , still not turning back. "It matters! It totally matters!" , the Pole continued to press , "We , like , came here together didn't we! Only a week! What kind of a sick mind are you to , like , leave now!?". The Dane resumed his walking , turning up the street.

The Pole was ruined. Why was he leaving? What was he going to do now , not knowing Russian fully well , having almost no chance to do any work he could find , with no money , not able to feed him self? Feliks got a grip on his nerves , turning his misfortune into anger towards the Dane.

"Mathias! Why are you leaving all of a sudden , at least tell me! You damn Dane! Come back here!"

No pathetic yells and shrieks could make the Dane stop. What ever the reason was , he had made his mind up and was now leaving. For every unknown to Feliks reasons. The Pole stood there , at the foot of the building's front door , staring blankly at the river that flew smoothly as ever. He felt little tears fall from his eyes. He couldn't control his crying. H cried very easily actually. When he was angry , sad , when things didn't go his way , when he was embarrassed. Right now he both sad and angry. Angry at the Dane that was leaving without a word and sad because now he was alone. He felt as if he was going to die alone in this cold country. He was going to die suddenly and Tim and the Swede would find his body months latter , lying on the living room floor.

He quickly shook his head , trying to get rid of the depressing thoughts but it was so hard to do. He had to find some sort of dishes now but from where? He needed food and there was none up in the apartment so he had to walk out and _buy_ some. And he knew little about shopping in a communistic country! What if he saw his old friend Lopakin again? Sure he could say 'hi' but he didn't know the more complicated Russian the people around him spoke. He doubted that Mathias knew what he did to him leaving.

A few minutes passed before the Pole could feel the cold. When he did however a shiver rocked his body and he rubbed his forearms , deciding it was time to go back inside. He slowly walked up the stairs and into his apartment. The front door had stayed opened so the apartment felt a lot colder. The Pole slowly closed the door and went in to the bedroom , taking his heavy coat and wrapping it over his shoulders. He went over to the so called kitchen and retrieved the gas stove planning to turn it on in the bedroom so it could worm up.

He dragged the gas stove to the bedroom and turn it on. He hoped that it would get a bit wormer that way. Spending the winter with no fire was dangerous business. The Pole went to the bathroom to wash his teary face and drink some cold water from the little sink before going back to the bedroom. While he was walking towards the bedroom however something on the floor caught his eye. A white little paper. He leaned down and took it , squinting his eyes to read it. The letter how ever was written in Norwegian as it seamed , or some other language of the like. Feliks felt that the letter was related to Mathias's sudden leave so he tucked it his pocket planning to ask the Swede if could translate it later. He was as if too tired to do anything now.

The pole threw him self on the creaking mattress , tucking him self under the woolen blankets. It didn't got who knows how wormer from the gas stove's little flame but Feliks was hoping it did after a bit more time. It was strange how tired and groggy he felt when he hadn't done anything much today. He fell asleep with thoughts about the future , determined to find out more about the strange letter tomorrow.

Till now he was switching plans. He was going to get another sucker with him. As much as he wanted he couldn't take care of him self in the current situation. He needed someone like Mathias around him , and this time he wasn't going to get friendly , he was going to keep his relations as cold and fake as possible. He saw how much friends ware worth. He wasn't ready to go through _that_ again.

That's how Feliks fell asleep , with thoughts about the close future.

\- _to be continued…_ -

Okay! Short and probably crappiest chapter till now! I had to end the little retrospection session some how so you wouldn't wonder about the upcoming chapters. I hope you liked none the less and as always R&amp;R!

P.S. Yeas , it is quite confusing , please stay tune and I promise to sort out the misunderstood material in the later chapters.


	8. Previously in Novgorod

_\- previously , Novgorod_ –

"_We accept your offer , if it's still in charge I mean." The taller of the two said and Feliks nodded. "Of course! C'mon now , before podpolkovnik crazy comes back." The short blond boy stood up and pushed his hands in his pockets as Toris nodded. _

_The street lamp flickered again before going off , leaving the street in darkness._

At first Toris was surprised how quickly they had came to the place. It was too dark to see well but he could make out the big dark building that threw a menacing shadow over them. Feliks walked towards the front door , opening it slowly , after which he turned towards the two. "Be silent , okay?" , Toris quickly nodded , Raivis mimicking beside him. The Latvian planned to stay mad at his friend for as much as possible. Feliks looked pleased and motioned for them to follow him inside.

The claimed to be Belarusian led the two up the stairs to the third floor of the building as it seemed. A thing that caught the Lithuanian's eye was the rather loud creaking of the stairs. It was as if they would brake in any minute. Feliks led them down a small hall once they ware on the third floor. He led them to a door on they left , the third in the row out of four down the hall. Toris couldn't see well in the overwhelming darkness of the hall but he thought he saw the Belarusian take out a key from his pocket , opening the door after words. The wooden door creaked making the two jump. Feliks seamed to be used to the door's creaking habits.

The blond walked inside , leaving the door open for Toris and Raivis to follow. Toris didn't need urging as he quickly walked inside the apartment. Raivis however was a bit slower and unsure. They both entered the apartment however , the door soon being closed with another creak. The apartment had a chill to it. It wasn't very cold however ( Toris would later realize it was because of the small , wood ran heater that had burned all day before ). It was dusty and a bit bare. "Well , welcome to my place." , Feliks chirped walking inside the living room. The wooden floor creaked beneath his feet as he walked to the window in the middle of the opposite to the door wall.

Toris cautiously looked around the room as he walked in. the walls ware covered in moll and the paint was falling off at places. In the corner , to the left of the window , stood a wooden table with three chairs to its sides. The window in front of which Feliks stood was covered in thick , orange-brown colored , curtains that ware held up by metal chooks to the thin , metal stick that was as if glued vertically to the wall over the window's upper frame. The glass of the window was dirty , fogging the out side scenery. Toris curiously stepped back into the small hall and looked to his sides. To his left stood a wooden door and to his right , to the left of the hall , stood another door , again closed. Toris blinked and returned into the living room. "Isn't this place quite small?" he cautiously asked , catching Feliks's attention. The blond turned around to look at the duo over his shoulder. "It isn't , like , too small , trust me. I used to , like , live with this other guy here you know. It was just fine. You might find the kitchen and bathroom a bit stuffy though." Feliks casually shrugged and stretched , smiling smugly all the while.

"And where are we going to sleep?" Raivis piped in. Feliks again shrugged. "Where ever you , like , want…not in my bedroom though , you'll sleep here on the floor , there's , like , only one mattress and it's my bed , yeah. I have enough blankets to make you two comfortable." , Raivis mumbled a strangled 'great' under his nose and again shrank back in his place. "Thank you again for taking us in. We can not come to thank you enough for your kindness." Toris thanked and smiled. He still couldn't feel much at home though he hoped to coup with time. Feliks waved his hand , turning back at them fully. "Please now Toris! No need for such familiarities. You'll do me good work so I'm sure. One more thing , do you two work or anything?" Toris shook his head a no for both him and Raivis. They hoped to get jobs soon though. "Hm , don't worry about it , I'll find you something to do though you-" Feliks turned towards Raivis who blinked , "Yeas?" the short Latvian mumbled looking up at him also. "-I doubt I'll be able to find you a good job you'll stay here and do the chores." Toris blinked in distress at the statement. "B-But , isn't it illegal for him not to work?" , "It is. I'm not saying he doesn't have to work _at all_. If he wants to he'll find a job."

The blond didn't seem to put Raivis in any of his plans and that somehow got to the Latvian's nerves. He didn't dare say anything though , worried that he might loose the roof over his head. Toris nodded at that in understatement. Feliks wasn't their baby sitter after all. He was kind enough to give them shelter and now he was going to find Toris a job. That surely was some sort of rare kindness.

It was almost sunrise though it was still fairly dark out side. The three ware some what tired after a whole night of talking and walking around the city. Toris and Raivis ware coming down from a nerve point as well there for they felt tired and craved some peaceful sleep. Feliks brought the two some worm blankets from his room and advised them to keep their coats on just in case. Strange but when Toris offered Feliks some help with the blankets the blond stiffened upon hearing the idea of the Lithuanian walking in his room. He quickly refused and forbid the two from entering his room. Toris found that strange ( while Raivis found it all the more frightening and bothering ) but decided to respect the fact. He wouldn't like other people roaming around his room as well. He just shrugged away the Latvian's stupid ideas and fears and made him self comfortable on the creaky wooden floor , tucked under two wool blankets.

In the morning , much to the two's horror and confusion , Feliks was no where to bee seen. Their worries how ever melted as they saw the little note that was scribbled on a news paper and lied on the dusty table. As it seemed , the blond was out to work and would return late with some food. Toris used the chance to nag again at Raivis that Feliks was actually a good person , since he went to work that is. On the same pepper there ware scribbled some chores for the two to handle around the house. Toris left that to Raivis. He planned to go and look for a job and maybe buy a newspaper. He didn't believe in communism , not in the slightest. He was a part of the party how ever , he didn't know why. He had a member ticket , documents , a visa. If you looked at him , walking normally down the street , you would take him for a normal soviet citizen. Which of course was in his favor.

Toris checked the time before starting getting ready to go out. It was around two. He looked out of the window seen that it wasn't snowing , like it rarely did. It wasn't particularly bright since it was winter. The sky remained gray and clouded. As it was brighter now Toris could see clearly the place where the building was. It was far in the end of the city , from the window he couldn only make out some old buildings up the streets , some night lamps and the frozen , snow covered ground. If he tried hard enough he could make out the corners of the fairly snow clean streets , though it was a bit painful to turn your eyesight that much to the right. The Lithuanian straightened up his coat and ran a hand through his hair , making a double check up of his looks in front of the bathroom mirror , just in case.

Raivis seemed to be mad at him still , maybe a bit angered rather than mad though. Toris said a cheerful goodbye to which Raivis replayed with a strangled sort of bye. Toris didn't bother to get into hart breaking conversations about the boy's mood so he just shrugged his behavior off , shutting the front door softly behind him , softly as possible that is. He started to head towards the stairs and down the creaking wood. He held the stair latter out of habit as he walked down the cases of stairs. His mood was more than cheerful , he could already see the rain clouds disappearing from his street and the sun shining. He could currently see only the good in the day and almost nothing could ruin his mood.

So he thought before he reached the front door of the building. He was just about to open it when the wooden door swooshed open to revile a light brown haired girl. As the girl opened the door she took a quick step inside out of habit though this time in front of her stood Toris who looked at the girl puzzled. The girl too returned the stare , the two so close , their noses ware almost touching. Their startled breaths mixing between their faces as they both blushed. The girl had big blue-ish eyes , Toris felt as if he could sink in them.

"A-Ah?" the girl gasped suddenly , not turning away from Toris , "Privet?". "Erm…privet." Toris returned the greeting as they continued to blankly stare at each other. The girl didn't seem scared which kind of comforted Toris. The girl let out a soft giggle after awhile which soon grew into a laugh as she stepped away from Toris's personal space. She looked beautiful , her light brown locks jumping lightly as she laughed , her skin pale but with a pinkish hue and her cheeks and nose red from the biting cold wind. Toris couldn't help but laugh as well at the situation , stepping back a bit and taking hold of the door for the girl.

"Oh , god , what a situation this was." , the girl continued in a fit of giggles. Toris just laughed and nodded. "Yeas , it was really uncomfortable for a bit.". The girl giggled again and continued after catching her breath. "Menya zovut Bella." , the girl said , passing a hand for a handshake at Toris. The Lithuanian nodded and shook her hand softly. Her hand was worm , clad in black or dark brown glove for warmth. Toris remembered Natalia's hands. They ware never worm actually , glove clad or not. Lost in his little world , Toris almost forgot to replay , and let go of the girls hand. "Menya zovut Toris. A pleasure." , the girl nodded smiling cheerfully. "I haven't seen you here comrade. You are new here?" , "Yeas , I came…very early in the morning." , Toris didn't really know how to describe the time he came in building around. Bella smiled smugly and put her hands on her waist in a extravagant sort of manner , swaying her lower waist left and right. "Oh , so Tim and Ber don't know you? Do you live here with someone?" , Toris nodded and blushed lightly at her gesture. "A boy named Feliks , Feliks Simtsov , if I remember." , Bella nodded in understatement. She seamed to know Feliks. "Yeas , yeas , comrade Simtsov is a very kind person. He gave me these _sweet_ ideas how to decorate my apartment in the center , he even told me how to make these _sweet_ curtains , I made a pair for him too!" Bella had lowered her voice and had came closer to Toris , as if she was telling some dirty secret of her's. Toris wasn't _that_ type but he though about asking Bella a thing or two about his new friend of some sort. "What kind of person is Feliks by the way , I do not really know him much-" , Bella nodded a bit in understatement. "Yeas , yeas , I understand. As for Feliks Simtsov , he is a very extravagant fellow , very lazy if a say." Bella waved her hand in annoyance , as if remembering something. "He is very brave! And he likes to drink , yeas , I know , strange right. To think that someone as him can even like the taste of vodka. But he is very enthusiastic! A very good fellow , he just needs a little _push_ sometimes." Bella giggled again , bringing her fingers to her mouth.

Toris again blushed at her gesture and nodded. "Oh , but you know , you have to meet Tim and Ber. I'm going to tell them that you live with comrade Simtsov , Ber owns this place and Tim is his second hand-" another giggle erupted from the girl's soft lips before she lowered her voice to a whisper again , "-and my fiancé." , she happily squealed. For a second , Toris felt his heart flutter but it quickly got overtaken by coldness again. His heart was broken the minute Natalia rejected him back in Moscow a month ago. "I'm in a bit of a hurry now , but yeas , please tell the owners of the building that I and a friend of mine got taken in by Feliks. I really don't want to be a bother. Feliks said that it would not be a problem to stay with him. We ware kind of out on the street until he showed up-" the Lithuanian laughed nervously , scratching the back of his head lightly. He felt embarrassed , talking about how worthless he was. And in front of a beautiful girl non the less… "Yeas , yeas , of course! When comrade Simtsov comes back I'll make sure that the question will be solved. I guess it was quite early when you came since comrade Feliks missed the introductions with Ber. I guess he was tired. He goes to work early do you know." , Toris didn't know but he nodded in understanding non the less. It was getting late an if he wanted to do anything today he had to beg miss Bella a due as much as he didn't want to. "I have to go , I'm in hurry-" , "Oh , yeas , yeas! Of course , I am sorry I got you standing here , go , go , do your work! I'll make sure the little misunderstandings be taken care off by the time you come back." Toris laughed slightly and started walking , "Yeas , thank you. It was nice meeting you!" , he hurried his steps , waving at the cheerful girl who waved back with a smile , before walking in side the building. The Lithuanian could hear the shallow closing of the door as he continued to walk through the snow towards the street.

Once he was on the street he tried in vain to keep away from the water puddles of barely melted snow. He didn't want to get his shoos soaking just yet. He walked with large strides up the street accompanied by the soft sounds of the river that flowed on the left side of the street and the wind. He started to enter the city and he soon found him self surrounded by the somewhat tall buildings. Old cars drove down the streets , woman passed around , little children clad in thin coats ran around the streets. Toris loved the laughter of children. So innocent and pure , away from the war and blood shed , from the problems of adulthood. The Lithuanian couldn't understand their games however. The game of enemy soldiers and heroic pioneers appealed him less than any other. Did children truly like chasing each other around in the roles of enemies and partisans and in the end hanging them selves up on ropes? Madness , Toris would think. He preferred the innocent games of tag per say.

As the brunette calmly walked , musing over the playing children with a smile , across the street from him a little girl that was previously running and laughing tripped and fell face first onto the ice covered ground. The Lithuanian panicked and quickly ran across the street towards the already sobbing child. He didn't understand how parents would leave their children to run around the city like that. What if some thing _happened_?

Toris knelt beside the child and helped the little girl up. Why wasn't anyone paying attention to the little scene? "You have to be more careful , goodness , are you alright?" he breathed out truly concerned. The little girl looked at him with big eyes , red from the shed tears , and nodded as Toris brushed the snow from her light brown , soft , locks of hair. "I am , spasibo comrade." , the little girl murmured softly , stunned by the man's kindness. Toris huffed again , his heart in his throat , brushing the dirty snow from the girls coat and straightening it up for her. He took her thin cap that had landed on the ground from the fall and brushed it from the snow , trying to clean it a bit , before he sat it over her soft hair. He even straightened her scarf before standing up and looking over her again. "You have to be careful next time." , he continued to school , the little girl looking down uncomfortably. She nodded and passed Toris a hand. "Spasibo comrade , my name is Liubov." , Toris was taken aback a bit but quickly smiled and laughed softly , shacking the little cold , glove clad , hand. "That is a beautiful name , I am Toris." , the little girl smiled softly. "Thank you comrade!"

Toris loved children. He wondered what life would be if he had a child. If he had a woman by his side and a beautiful little daughter. A little princess like the one that was currently skipping down the streets towards her little friends. One with pink cheeks and soft skin and a cute smile. With soft hair and golden curls. If he had a daughter he would name her Liubov.

It was early for him to think about children and families so Toris brought him self back on the current moment and continued to walk up the street. He bought him self a newspaper and found him self a bench near a leafless , snow covered , tree to sit on. He opened the new addition of "Komsomolskaya Pravda" and started reading. He liked to be educated much or less. See where the Soviet Union was heading at. He red all about the future plans of the Union's politics , new heroic promises from Stalin and the other so called leaders , more and more propaganda against the poor Polish nation on the west , new murders and more and more poor souls send to Siberia. There ware some things that Toris couldn't read however. He quickly closed the newspaper once his eyes passed a theme of the such.

Russia was a cold country of cruelty , build by the hands of suffered people that knew only cruelty and suffering. A nation , survived through history and time , strong and powerful. Scary as the Siberian winter. _Nothing_ could go against the Russian Bear. Those powerful claws could grab it's pray and those powerful jaws could turn that pray to shreds leaving no hope and only sadness , sorrow and coldness. Oh , _god_ , who watches us from the sky , can you not see what kind of a monster you created , forgetting the poor nation you threw in centuries of darkness and blizzard!? And tell us , oh mighty god , do you like what you see , the bloody war in which this _monster_ wants to attend!? Do you like the sight of your poor children of the north creating unneeded bloodshed and misery on the West?! If so god you have no heart or soul and non of your kindness and warmth are left for the ice cold hearts of those poor children. They shall continue to suffer , forgotten by god's warmth , warmth that can be shared only with the Capitalist pigs in America and the so called _gentleman_ in the Kingdom. Because god refuses to look at this poor nation. He knows that if he does the eyes of a million suffered faces , women , children and elders , will look at him with only the anger a Soviet citizen can have towards the _oh so powerful lord_.

Toris did not believe in god though he wanted to. He wanted to think and believe that someone only as good as god stands somewhere there and can help him through the hard times. Though he knew that if god was somewhere there he would not let the world be taken over by death and war. But that was a theme more likely to be though over by a priest or something. And such religious stuff ware not allowed in the great Soviet.

Fearing it might get too late , Toris quickly tucked the newspaper under his arm and started to walk. Where could he find a job for Raivis? That was impossible was it? Maybe in a factory? But Raivis was too clumsy to work such a thing! Back in Moscow the Latvian's job was to help in the store where Toris worked and since he did half a job he got half the pay. But he tried hard and did the best he could in his job. Maybe Toris could find him a job like his old , he wouldn't have to coup with other duties too. But where to find such a thing , where to? The Lithuanian spend half his day in trying to find his friend a job but to no avail. It wasn't his fault Raivis was a good for nothing , clumsy and a bit pathetic fool. That was his personal though of course , he would never say something like that to Raivis , that would break his little stressed heart.

It started to get dark soon and Toris decided that if he wanted to find his way back he would have to give up for today and go home. He had completely forgotten about miss Bella and the introductions with the so called Ber and Tim.

The brunette walked as fast as he could but even then he managed to get home by night. He forgot it got dark early in winter. Toris quickly entered the building and started to skip up the stairs , taking two or three of the steps at a time. He walked to the door of Feliks's apartment and knocked , remembering he had no keys. He heard hurried footsteps from the other side of the door and soon the lock was turned ( he had the bad habit of locking his door too much too ) and the door slowly opened to reveal Raivis. Much to Toris's surprise the Latvian looked nervous and shaken. "Toris , hello-" , "Hey , Raivis , I'm back." , the Lithuanian smiled cheerfully and started to move pass Raivis to enter. He looked up from the boy and was greeted by a surprising sight. He could see the dining table in the living room from his spot and much to his surprise on it sat Feliks and miss Bella. Feliks smiled brightly and stood up. "Hey Toris! I see you got introduced to Bell huh?" the blond winked , a gestured that both confused and flustered Toris.

The Lithuanian stood , blushing and gapping at the door as the cheerful Bella greeted with a feline smile. "Hello again comrade Toris." , awaken by her smooth and still squeaky voice , Toris found him self , and his voice , and managed to clumsily return the greeting. "H-Hello , hello again miss Bella." , he nodded with a soft smile , catching his breath from the stair climbing. He looked at Feliks who gave him a smug look and wiggled his eyebrows. Toris wondered about the double innuendo behind that gesture.

"We ware , like , waiting for you!" Feliks slurred as Toris entered the living room , Raivis following suit. "I'm sorry , I was looking for a job for Raivis here…" the Lithuanian looked at his friend as to prove the point and then back at Feliks and Bella. "I understand it is about our earlier question?" the brunette looked at Bella who nodded. "Yeas , yeas , there is no problem though Ber insisted you two to start paying the rent once you step on your feet." Toris did not knew this man but he was thankful , truly thankful. He sighted and nodded. "Please thank him , from both of us. We shall start paying the rent as soon as possible." Bella nodded gingerly and Feliks huffed crossing his arms. "You two are in such a luck! I get to pay twenty-five rubles _plus_ the thirty rubles in advance and you pay just twenty-five!" , twenty-five rubles…for such a bare and dusty apartment? Toris just laughed at the blond and decided to dismiss the thought.

"Aaaand-" Feliks started again , gaining both Raivis and Toris's attentions. The blond looked at their stunned face with a grin , a glint of mischief ghosting through his eyes for a second , before he continued. "-from tomorrow Toris will work with me at the ammunition factory of Novgorod while the Latvian will be a staff member in the local bar. Be happy I know both the bar owner _and_ the director of the factory!" the blond laughed at the two's half shocked half happy expressions. Raivis , for the first time , forgot him self and cheerfully hugged the Lithuanian. Toris too laughed in shear happiness. "Thank you , thank you Feliks!" the Latvian cheered making Bella and Toris laugh at the childishness of the ginger boy. And _boy_ , what a beautiful and soft laugh did Bella had. Toris forgot him self as he heard it passing through his ears like silk. He blushed for a moment , forgetting happiness and every other feeling he had. Just that laugh , passing through his mind , remained. He couldn't think about Natalia now. She _never_ laughed. Come to think of it , she never _smiled_. His heart just wormed up.

He was brought back from his land of dreams by the hand clapping of Feliks. He blinked and looked at the grinning blond. "Now , now , shouldn't the good news be , like , celebrated!?" , "I brought drinks and a radio!" Bella cheered and stood up from her chair. She skipped into the kitchen and soon came back with two bottles of cheep vodka. Much to Toris's surprise , again , on the floor by the table stood an old , a bit rusted , radio. "Lets see if I can , like , start this baby!" Feliks laughed , kneeling down to bring the little gadget on the table as Bella retreated some small vodka cups. "Be careful with it , it's Tim's!" Bella whined and Feliks repeated her sentence in a whiny tone , trying to find the start button of the antic. Toris was about to ask if anyone needed help when a loud , as if static , noise erupted from the radio , startling half to death Raivis , Bella , who was bringing plates from the kitchen , also jumped , almost dropping a plate while Feliks too jumped and started to spin the little round button for the volume , turning the volume lower. "Feliks!" Bella and Toris yelled in one voice , Raivis being too startled to say anything , as Feliks just smiled apologetically and turned the volume up just a bit up.

It took some time for Feliks to find a station that broadcasted nice and cheerful music. Hurray for radio Belgrade. The antic had power , the blond admitted. Bella sat the table , a bowl of steaming borsch for all and a cup of worming vodka. And with the cheerful atmosphere and the alcohol soon all four ware happily dazed. Even Raivis had taken a fair share of booze , for good measure. And behind the clouded minds of the four comrades , the cheerful tone came from the radio. And perhaps it was from the vodka , Toris didn't know , but when Bella slurred a dance offer to him he quickly obliged , both of them starting to move to a unfamiliar tone , tangled into something similar to polka , the floor creaking under the fast steps and Feliks cheerfully clapping at the dancing couple.

The night was full of laughter and dances and for once both Toris and Raivis forgot their troubles. Feliks did too. He didn't think about his lost friend now , he didn't think about his horrid and poor life. His mind was clouded with delight and vodka and everyone was more than happy. Perhaps the only unhappy ware the little neighbors Feliks had but the old grouchy neighbors ware at all not enough to ruin the moment.

And Toris was on cloud nine. Dancing with a pretty girl , he had never done it before. Bella's laugh was the only thing he could hear. They spun around and laughed , it was a wonderful moment. Somewhere near the end of the song something even more wonderful happened. Toris and Bella ware suddenly close , closer than when they first met at the front door. Hot , drunken breaths mixed between their faces and about to get married or not Bella stood up at her tip-toes and when Feliks and Raivis ware not looking , the honey color haired girl gave the Lithuanian a heated kiss. The moment was so perfect , the kiss was like a drug. It would have been so much better if Toris's drunken mind remembered it in the morning.

\- _to be continued_…-

Oh. My. God! Okay! Totally random! Belgium x Lithuania?! The hell is wrong with me!? Oh my god , goodness! Anyway , thank you for reading , remember R&amp;R ^^ and now I shall continue with the AN.

So…yup , Lithuania x Belgium. Again LietBel…goodness…so yeas , I put the relationships of Netherlands and Belgium here not as brother and sister but as fiancés! I like the pairing too! Don't hate , it's just for this story , pretend!

The little girl Liet encounters is named Liubov first because the name is _very_ beautiful and second – it means 'love' , literally.

'Komsomolskaya Pravda' is a communistic newspaper , I think it's just 'Pravda' , or maybe the two are the same…I do not really know , but it was the biggest newspaper in soviet Russia , every good Soviet red it.

After the Great War and the Russian Civil war ( Otechestvena voina ) among the kids the game of a hero partisan and enemy soldiers was quite common. After WW2 too. It was like this – a kid plays the role of a hero pioneer and the others play the soldier enemies. The pioneer gets caught by the enemy and gets…hang up by a rope…that's how psychos are born ( ask Tolya Slivko! ). There are many other games of the like , full of unneeded hate…very popular amongst Russian and German children. Amongst others too , the ones that ware on a wining side at least.

This radio antic catches Radio Belgrade!? This thing is one awesome thing…I have no idea what they are listening to but it's something cheerful , I am not very sure if back then around the Russian radio programs there ware much programs that broadcasted cheerful Russian music…I doubt they didn't but just to be on the safe side , you know.

A very long AN I know , R&amp;R and stay tune for more , correct my historical mistakes and all critics are welcome! Just no hate.


	9. Down the hill

The next dais passed rather quick , for both Toris and Feliks. It was unbelievable how good Toris lived now. He had no money issues for now and he had worm food every night. He didn't consider him or Raivis poor anymore. They had a roof over their heads and as the month passed they even paid Berlwad their rents. Twenty five rubles per person. Sure they had less money after words but they could coup.

Toris's job was not anything special. He helped putting bullets together and the pay was good enough. Said factory wasn't far from their home too. And every night after the end of work they would visit the bar in which Raivis worked. The place was really nice , it had a worm ring to it. It was ran by a cheery Hungarian woman that Feliks introduced as Elisaveta. She was pretty nice and always knew how to make one laugh. Raivis was happy of his work with the Hungarian.

At night Toris would cook for the three and they would share a nice worm dinner together , accompanied by a cup of vodka , something that always appeared on the table. They would go to sleep after words. Toris and Raivis still slept on the floor while Feliks would lock him self in his room. The blond still refused to let the two in , not like they had any reason to go in anyway.

The only thing that bothered Toris was probably Bella. And that was the only reason for his current unhappiness. It was about two days ago when they met yet again. On the front door of the building , just like their very first meeting. This time Bella didn't laugh however , she was silent and backed away as if a lot more startled. She looked ashamed and refused to meet Toris's eyes. _You know that I am Tim's fiancé right ,_ she had said , her words causing mild confusion to the Lithuanian.

_That night was a mistake. I was drunk. Please don't think anything serious of that , just…let us just go our different ways. There will never be anything more between me…and you._

Toris couldn't understand what was wrong with him. Women just didn't seem to like him. But why? It wasn't like he wasn't charming , hell , he could pass for every girl's prince charming. He could be ready to bring the stars for a girl , much like what he used to do with Natalia. He did everything she asked but she still rejected him. And now Bella too. But he couldn't think badly of her , she had a fiancé after all! He could only feel respect towards her. But still. Maybe he had gotten attached towards her.

Her words , said in her soft honey voice , echoed in his head ever since. He tried not to slack in his work and daily tasks but something was off with him. He just didn't feel like before , he couldn't take his mind off of the honey haired woman. She had become like a little sun for him , his second love from first sight. His love life was a big fail , just a big fail.

A fact was that the religion was band in the Soviet Union. It was going to be the first year in which Feliks would have to part with the Christmas atmosphere. The holyday was soon to come and Feliks looked foreword to it even though he wouldn't be able to celebrate it as normally. It was his favorite holyday , he would go out and celebrate it with random people in a bar or something of the like. There would be laughter and dancing and food for everyone. It was normally a fun experience and the blond would always get presents from his neighbors.

This year he didn't have the time to celebrate. He only planned to go out and have a drink maybe , nothing special. He was going to get Raivis and Toris some presents however. Maybe he was going to get the Swede and Tim something too. Something little for Bella too. They ware his friends too after all.

He thought about his Danish comrade too.

The day was pretty chilly and cloudy , Feliks didn't know why he had chosen to go out on a walk. It was his free day , he had time maybe. His Danish comrade had disappeared just like that and Feliks still remembered. It had happened about a month ago after all. The blond had heard no word of him since. Not like he cared. He had promised him self not to get attached to his two housemates this time , as long as he didn't there wouldn't be a problem if they left. Just like the Dane.

Feliks shook his head with a sight and looked up. Slowly , little soft and white snowflakes ware starting to fall over the city. The Pole glanced at the clouds , eyes half closed but glimmering with their usual light and shine. He managed to catch the movement of the falling frozen water as it danced from the sky and onto the stone streets , mixing and melting as they fell on the dirty ground.

With lots of effort , the blond forced him self to continue walking. He had to try and take things easy for him self. Troubling his mind with such thoughts was not going to do him good. He had to avert his sight towards the future so he could manage to survive.

Strange as it was , the mood in the small apartment dropped. As Christmas neared the relationships between the trio living in the apartment as if got colder. They rarely managed to catch each other to talk , only on dinner. But even then they preferred to just eat and stay silent. They had nothing to tell each other as it was.

Toris's mood wasn't good , he was just stuck in his troubled mind and didn't seem to look foreword for the mornings. Feliks , for some odd reason , didn't seem all so cheerful as well. He wasn't the type to start crying out his feelings to Toris or Raivis so neither of them knew what was the problem with him. Raivis , on the other hand , could only sense the mood and keep silent. Bella showed up from time to time to talk to Feliks , gladly Toris kept him self out of the apartment during her visits.

But time passed , the days ware the same. The day that was supposed to be Christmas soon came. Feliks was secretly happy and couldn't wait to show Toris and Raivis their presents. He had bought something for Tim , the Swede and Bella too , just so they wouldn't feel left out. Feliks felt oddly generous.

That morning he woke up in a fairly good mood. He got dressed and took out the present he had bough for his two housemates , walking out of his room.

"Like , good morning!" he cheered and jumped into the living room , glad to see the two males awake , wool blankets neatly folded and left in the corner of the room. "Good morning." , Toris greeted , followed by Raivis. Feliks grinned cheerfully and walked into the room , keeping the presents behind his back. "Guess , like , what day it is." , he happily sung making Toris and Ravis look at him questioningly. "It's Christmas!" the blond exclaimed , pulling out two small boxes from behind his back.

Toris and Raivis's eyes widened slightly , the Lithuanian standing up straight in shock. "Feliks what are you saying , the religious holydays are band-" Toris started , taking the small box that Feliks pushed into his hands. The Pole gave Raivis the other box , the Latvian glaring at it with a raised eyebrow. He had learned to trust Feliks much or less , he had forgot to doubt him at least. "I don't care what communism bands!" Feliks beamed , looking at Toris's dumfounded expression. "It's Christmas today so , like , open up your presents!"

Raivis gave Toris a questioning glance to which the taller shrugged and opened the small box. His forest green eyes glimmered as he saw the shining hand watch in the seemingly normal box. It was as if made out of silver though Toris was sure it was some cheep metal. It looked beautiful though , with it's dark letter leash. Quite normal actually. Raivis seamed to have gotten the same present though his watch was a number smaller , his wrist being smaller.

"You like?" the blond asked , waiting for a replay. "Feliks , thank you but…we didn't get you anything." Toris said , a bit surprised , looking up at the blond. Feliks just waved his hand. "And you didn't , like , have to or anything. What do you say we go to Elizaveta's after work today and celebrate huh?!" Toris just shook his head and laughed at his friend's foolishness.

They truly did celebrate it after work , heading of to the Hungarian's bar and treating their selves a cup of vodka. They came home a bit late , gladly they ware not caught by the patrolling officers. The next morning Feliks gave Tim and the Swede their presents , both being equally surprised , even though not looking like it. Bella came to visit too and Feliks gave her her own present. This time however Toris couldn't manage to skip seeing Bella. As fate would have it – he was the one who opened the door for her , he was also the one who showed her the way out when she headed to leave. Something happened though.

The honey haired girl stopped at the door and turned back towards Toris , her big blue eyes looking as if sore from crying and her face a lot more pale and troubled. "Toris , please don't be mad at me." , she said in a raspy and sad voice. The Lithuanian , understanding that this was a theme for only the two of them , walked out with Bella and closed the door lightly behind them. "I am not mad miss Bella , it was really foolish of me to think anything , you have a fiancé and I have to respect your wish-" , Toris was cut off yet again by Bella's soft lips on his , his normally pale cheeks flaring. The honey haired girl pulled away and in stead wrapped her arms tightly around him , burying her face into the crock of his neck , breathing in his soothing scent.

The Lithuanian slowly wrapped his arms around the girl's waist wondering how he should comfort her. He didn't at all want to be left broken hearted again and wouldn't not all like it if Bella was just playing with him. Though he secretly knew that she would never do something like that. It wasn't in her kind nature.

Slowly , Bella pulled away , her hands still on the Lithuanian's shoulders. "You're very kind , you're really wonderful-" , she started , choking on her voice , "-every time I came here these few weeks you ware never here , I wanted to see you , to tell you that I'm sorry for my words , please. I-I don't want you to think bad of me , I like you , _more_ than Tim." , her voice finally broke and two small salty trails flew down her cheeks.

Toris was dumbfounded , he couldn't believe his ears. He took in a shaky breath and as if subconsciously lifted up his hands to cup the crying girls cheeks. Bella looked up at him , shocked by the sudden kindness. She was sure he would reject her after the words she had told him a few weeks ago. She felt terrible ever since that day , her heart ached and every time she came to visit and learned that he was out her stomach would flip with guilt.

Toris smiled gently and brushed away her tears. Call him naïve , call him stupid , but he wasn't mad at Bella. He was that kind of type that would do _anything_ for _anyone_ , perhaps that was his mistake with Natalia. He liked Bella , she wasn't like his Belarusian first love. She was kind and felt worm , she actually cared enough for him to come and tell him her true feelings and even apologize. She came to tell him that she liked him _more than her fiancé_. And who was he compared to Tim. He wasn't a macho , he had almost no money. He could offer Bella almost nothing. And still that wonderful , beautiful girl chose him. _Him_.

"Toris…" , he couldn't stand that choked with tears voice , he never wanted to see tears in her eyes ever again. The Lithuanian slowly leaned down to kiss the shocked girl's pale forehead. They stood a bit like that before Toris finally found the strength to look into her eyes. Her tears had stopped replaced by confusion. "I'm not mad at you. _I love you_." , he smiled warmly as new tears gathered into Bella's eyes , this time tears of joy.

Bella brought her hands up to her mouth shortly before she threw her self on the Lithuanian. She felt as if she never wanted to let him go. Toris too returned the tight hug with a small laugh of relief.

He and Bella parted , said girl promising him that she'll never leave him. Toris returned the promise as well and entered the apartment again , beaming with happiness. Feliks and Raivis hadn't seam to notice his absence though when he walked passed the two to go into the kitchen Feliks gave him a knowing look and winked. Toris of course passed on that look and continued his daily work.

The next months passed , no , more like flied away. Life was wonderful , for Toris and for Bella. They still met secretly , afraid to tell Tim , but Toris didn't mind , all he wanted was to be with Bella as much as he could. They met in the city , in her home in the city center , anywhere that they ware sure Tim won't catch them. Of course , Toris couldn't help but tell Feliks about his relationship. The blond look surprised , at least he hoped. He secretly knew but Toris didn't know. And as much as he promised not to tell anyone the bubbly Hungarian woman for which Raivis worked ended up knowing. Elizaveta took it in her hands to teach Toris how to keep a girl's heart.

Life started to come back and things started to feel right in the household of Feliks , Toris and Raivis.

And then came the first of May.

Spring had started to come , melting away the snow and replacing the coldness of winter. It was still a bit chilly but such ware the springs up North. The streets became flooded with melted snow and the leaves started to come back to the trees.

It was a morning as every other. The three males woke up , grabbed a quick breakfast and left off to work. As early as it was around the current time the streets ware full of people but today they ware not. Soon Raivis had to walk his way towards Eliza's bar and Toris and Feliks continued towards the factory. Once they got there however they saw no one. The fence around it was locked as well. The two shared an odd look and decided to go back home since they ware for sure not late and had no desire to stay out side.

They passed through Eliza's bar to see if she knew why the factory was closed but found the bar closed too , no sight of Raivis. Toris was beginning to worry , Feliks was just disturbed. They both started to walk towards home. To their surprise , as they made their way up the creaky stairs and towards their apartment , they saw Raivis. Curled at the front door and sitting at the dusty floor. Feliks wanted to laugh while Toris felt confused and more worried.

The short Latvian quickly looked up at them as he heard their steps and quickly stood up , dusting him self up. "Guys , Elizaveta wasn't at work-" , Raivis started shakily as the other two walked up to him. "We know , we passed through her place on the way here." Toris carefully explained. "The factory was closed too , hm." , Feliks wondered to him self. "Perhaps no one is working today." Toris concluded but still having no answer why would no one work exactly today. Everyday was a Soviet's work day was it not.

Suddenly feeling like an idiot , Feliks slapped the palm of his hand over his face , bringing Toris and Raivis's attentions towards him. "We are totally stupid you know…" , he started , words mumbled by his hand , "We totally forgot it was , like , the first of May."

Toris blinked , still confused , before it came to him. It really was the first of May! National worker's day. No body worked on the first of May.

"Yeah , we kind of forgot." Toris lightly laughed , scratching the back of his head before taking some time to explain what May day was to Raivis.

The day off was treasured by Toris. He was going to spend more time with Bella. Normally on the first of May there would be parades in Moscow and somewhere the Lithuanian had heard that Stalin was going to hold a speech in the center of the capital. Toris though that maybe there ware going to be fireworks in Novgorod or something with which people would celebrate the day that was currently the biggest holyday in the Soviet Union. And even if they didn't celebrate with much noise the Lithuanian was sure every single citizen was going to be home in front of the radio to hear the speech of the great leader. Honestly Toris wanted to hear too but he couldn't around Feliks. The blond didn't seam to like communism. Toris wondered on that question often. Wasn't Feliks Belarusian? And ware they not supposed to be communists too , big as the Russians of course. Toris didn't want to ask the blond so he just passed on the theme. He wasn't your big commie too. He was just curious.

The day went on , soon the streets ware again crowded. When Toris left to see Bella Feliks was reading a newspaper while Raivis was cleaning the dust off of the little furniture they had. The blond had mentioned something about going out too but that would happen a bit later.

Toris dusted him self up and made sure he looked presentable before exiting the little apartment. He planned to take Bella on a walk. He hurried down the stairs , excitement boiling within his stomach.

He skipped out side and started to hurry towards the city center where his love lived. She lived in a little apartment , stuffed with all her luggage and clothes. It was quite little for her and her many things but it felt worm and it had everything Bella needed. She was a student , Toris learned. He didn't exactly know what she studied though. He just knew the girl lived in the school dormitory.

The brunette made it to the building in which Bella lived and went in , walking up the stairs towards the forth floor. He remembered he had came empty handed though that thought hit him when Bella opened the door with a bright smile.

"H-Hi." , he greeted , a bit disturbed from the lack of flowers at least. Bella's smile got bigger. "Toris!" she opened the door wider and wrapped her hands around him tightly , "I'm glad to see you!".

The brunette smiled and returned the hug. He noticed that Bella wore only a white buttoned up shirt and a brown , straight , knee long skirt. She looked like she was getting ready to go out. "Ware you going somewhere?" the Lithuanian asked as the girl led him in and closed the door behind him. "Actually yeas , I had a bit of work , but that can wait!" , the cheerful girl wrapped her arms around his neck again and gave him a light kiss which Toris gladly returned. They liked each other's kisses. They ware so worm and soft. They had never went farther that kisses though.

"I came to pick you up , to go for a walk." Toris softly said with a smile as they finally parted. "That would be wonderful. It's May day today." Toris nodded , already knowing. He sat him self on the small couch in Bella's small living room as the girl ran off to get ready.

They went out together , hand in hand , and started to walk around the city. The people looked excited and some sort of happiness hung in the air. Toris started to doubt that some big event will take place in Novgorod on May day. Which was good for him. He wanted some peace on his _date_.

After an hour or so the Lithuanian decided to head home. Bella was a bit disappointed but let her self be taken home regardless. The girl was a lot more clingy today. Toris figured it was just some girl wonder. He didn't ask so he had no way to know that the girl actually had some sort of bad feeling. As if something terrible was sure to happen to the male if she let him go on this _exact_ day. It was a clingy feeling that made her stomach flip and her lungs to run out of air. She didn't know what it was but it was there.

Toris walked Bella to her front door and even when they hugged for goodbye the girl refused to let him go. He somehow managed to get the clingy woman off though and they promised each other to see them selves tomorrow too.

The people ware starting to walk home and Toris though that it might be getting time for that broadcast. The whole event in Moscow was going to be broadcasted on the radio along with the great leader's speech. Toris doubted it would be anything interesting.

He walked down the streets , hands in his pockets and his heart overflowing with happiness. He sighted happily thinking how good his life was these past few months. He had no worry in the world. That's why when he got to the building in which he lived and saw the armored car in front of it he didn't get worried. It was probably something that had nothing to do with him.

He desperately tried to push back the bad feeling as he walked up the stairs , some odd noises , as if yelling , coming from the third floor on which his apartment was. He even refused to believe it when he got to the third floor seeing the front door of the apartment in which he lived thrown open and gruff and loud voices yelling something in Russian from in side.

He could believe the sight with which he was greeted once in side the little living place. In the living room , in the corner near the table , stood Raivis and Feliks. The little Latvian shivering , as if on the verge of tears. Feliks stood with his head down , hands griped tightly into fists. Beside the two stood a blond officer in a police uniform , holding a rifle. In the same room stood a buffed , large man with ash blond hair ( he probably was an officer judging by his uniform ) and beside him stood another , shorter man with black hair , clad in a green uniform. Toris could hear men looking over Feliks's room and yelling something from time to time.

"W-What's going on here!?" Toris raised his voice walking into the living room. Feliks and Raivis looked up at him quickly as he did. The brunette could see small tears in the corners of the Latvian's eyes while a small , bloody trail oozed down from the corner of Feliks's mouth. Looks like the blond put up a fight before stilling. "Toris!" Raivis tried to run up his friend but got stopped as the officer beside the two pointed his vintovka towards him. "Don't move!" said officer commanded in a stern and yet boyish voice. The Latvian quickly stopped and got back in his place , Toris looking at the scene wide eyed.

"What are you doing , what is going on?" the Lithuanian continued , this time turning towards the two higher ranked officers in the room. The black haired male spoke first. "Do you live here?" he loudly said , buffing out his chest and frowning his eyebrows to look more menacing. "Yeas , I live here , these are my friends." Toris started in a rush , "What's going on here?". The black haired male was about to answer before he got cut off by the taller man beside him. "We are here to ask the same citizen." , he started in sickly calm and sweet voice , his violet eyes giving the Lithuanian shivers. "Your comrade , citizen _Simtsov_ , is being accused of betrayal against the great Soviet Union. The fact that you are _friends_ puts you into a hard situation as well." , the Russian continued but Toris couldn't hear any more. He looked at Feliks who continued to look down as if feeling quilt towards Toris. The Lithuanian blinked and looked back the two officers. " I do not know anything." , he tried to defend but was cut off by the black haired officer. "We ware not asking you. May I see your documents citizen?" he reached out a hand and came closer to Toris who quickly fished out his documents , passing the booklet at the other.

The black haired male looked through his documents as he walked back at his previous spot beside the bigger Russian. "It all looks legit." , he said looking towards the man beside him who nodded. Instead of returning his documents however the raven haired male pushed the booklet into his breast pocket. "Citizen Laurinatis you are accused of betrayal against the great Soviet Union-" , "What?!" , "-you are too keep silent and stay beside these two until the end of the procedure here in your apartment. You shall then be taken to the police station where we shall decide if you truly are innocent. Please stand beside your fellow citizens."

There was a brief second in which Toris couldn't move , his brain not understanding the situation. When he found his voice though he could only try to defend him self and the Latvian who he knew had nothing to do with the current situation. "Tovarishch , please , me and comrade Galante have nothing to do with this! I do not understand-" , "_Silence_!" Toris was cut off by the heavy and cold voice of the tall Russian which surely made the floor creak. "Citizen Laurinatis did you not hear comrade Balakov? Go on , _beside your fellow citizens_." , his voice once again became sickly calm , Toris couldn't say no or refuse anymore.

Before he found strength to walk beside Raivis however a soldier ran into the room and saluted. "Tovarishch Balakov , tovarishch Braginsky , we found this-" , the soldier walked towards the two officers , passing a piece of paper to the shorter. Toris again looked at Feliks who was still staring at his feet , knuckles almost white. Toris for sure knew that the blond was not ashamed of his doing.

The black haired officer took the paper and after looking at it grimaced in disgust and gave it to the taller male beside him. The Russian too took it and looked over it. His expression didn't change , he just folded the paper and pushed it into his pocket. With his hands behind his waist , he walked in front of Feliks , looming over him. "We seem not to share liking for the same kind of literature , citizen Simtsov. If that is your real name." , Toris and Raivis stood dumfounded as Feliks slowly lifted his head up to look at the Russian , his green eyes narrowed , lighting flashing behind his normally bright and clear orbs. "Where did you get the poem?" the officer asked calmly as Feliks continued to boar holes into his head. "I do not need to answer to a fucking communist bastard like your self." , at the blond's words Toris and Raivis's eyes shot open in shock ( more to the fact that they had never heard him use such language before) , the mouths of the two lower ranked soldiers in the room hung open and even the black haired officer raised his eyebrows in surprise. The tall Russian that loomed over Feliks , however , kept his gaze cold and his eyes narrowed. He was not finding any of Feliks's rebellion funny.

"Last time , a few months ago , when Alexei Maximovitch brought you to the politburo for having no documents and when Irina Chernenko came with your fellow citizen to talk about misunderstandings I let you go , but now…do you think I shall take this as a misunderstanding?" silence fell over the room , green meeting violet orbs in an intense glare. "If you think you can pass on just like that you be very stupid. I do not think Irina Chernenko or your Danish friend will come and get you , _citizen Simtsov_."

The officer stood up straight again , Feliks still glaring at him. "Alexander Asparuhovitch , please get the men in the other room and all they've found. Comrade Shtepenek , comrade Vasilenko , please put cuffs on these three here and escort them to the car out side." , as the commands ware given , the black haired officer walked towards Feliks's bedroom and the two other soldiers in the room saluted and worked on cuffing the wrists of Feliks , Raivis and Toris behind their backs. The blond stood silent , again looking at the floor , while Raivis quietly sobbed. Toris was completely out of words. Did this have to happen exactly to him , exactly today.

As if he red his mind , the tall Russian looked at him. "I understand it is a bother for you , if you are truly innocent citizen Laurinatis , being arrested on the first of May. Such a wonderful day. I too wanted to head towards Moscow to hear the speech of tovarishch Stalin him self but alas." , the ash blond male sighted , walking closer to Toris who refused to meet his gaze and instead kept his head down , "I have to deal with rats like you , feel guilty for wasting my day." , the officer finished as the black haired male came back with three other soldiers on his heels.

You could only imagine the shame and discomfort Toris felt while the three ware escorted down the stairs and through the floors towards the front door. The little neighbors they had peeked out of their doors to look at the sight of them being taken away. He felt terrible even though he hadn't managed to know those people better. He felt guilty for something he had not done. In fact , he could not understand the situation he was put in. what had Feliks done this time. How could the blond be so _rebellious_ , he could cause havoc and mayhem in an empty room!

They ware escorted out side and ware pushed towards the armored truck like car. Feliks was last to get into the back of the police car. The blond gritted his teeth and looked up at the last floor of the building. There , on the window of the first apartment from left to right , stood the Swede – Berwald. Feliks narrowed his eyes , his own meeting the Swede's distant , cold and as if disappointed glare. The blond just shook his head , his eyes as if sending a silent message towards Berwald. The Swede's glare of sympathy was the last thing Feliks saw before he was finally pushed inside the back of the car.

The blond was forced to sit on the wooden bench inside , beside his two comrades , before the door was closed. With them sat three of the soldiers. Feliks over heard the Russian giving one command to stay around the place , the other must have gotten in the front with the two officers. As dim as it was in the back , Feliks could make out the blond officer that held them at gun point back in his apartment.

The car was started.

It was about five minutes when Feliks decided to talk. He turned towards the blond soldier , not out of sympathy but rather his name sounded familiar. "Hey , comrade , what's going to happen with us now?" he asked in his normal voice. Toris looked quickly at him. "Shut up Feliks , didn't you put as in enough trouble!?" the Lithuanian hissed though Feliks didn't pay him attention.

The blond soldier turned his eyes towards Feliks and shrugged. "You'll stay on worm for about three days and then off to Siberia!" another soldier that sat beside the blond decided to answer for him , "That's what you get for being filthy traitors." He hissed again , silence taking over again.

Toris felt Raivis move a bit closer to him , pressing lightly to him. The brunette felt sorry. But mostly he felt angry with Feliks. Of all the nerve…

The whole ride was silent except for some jokes passed around the three officers in the back. The three captives ware silent. Exactly Feliks's lack of movement got Toris more angry. But what could the blond do anyway , if he was guilty there was no other way out of the mess except a ride to Siberia.

Once there , the soldiers opened the double doors of the back and escorted the three out. The police station was a street away from the politburo , a place Feliks knew quite well. The three ware pushed towards the front doors of the station , walking after the two officers. The inside looked much like the inside of the politburo though with a lower roof. There was a desk in the far corner of the entrance behind which stood a light brown haired officer. Said man quickly stood up and saluted as Balakov and Braginsky entered the room.

"At ease Piotr Nikolaevitch." , Braginsky softly said and walked towards the desk. He took out the three booklets which ware the documents of Raivis , Toris and Feliks and threw them on the desk before the soldier. "Fill out the papers for Laurinatis and Galante , leave Simtsov until second command." , the Russian ordered as the man before him saluted again and walked behind the desk.

The ash blond man then turned towards the still waiting men. "Comrade Vasilenko , comrade Shtepenek and comrade Serpilin , please escort these three to the cells. Comrade Anufriev you are free to go home and listen to the speech of our leader. Oh , Piotr Nikolaevitch , turn on your radio to listen too , it would be a shame if you miss it. Alexander Asparuhovitch you come with me.". Some strange sort of sickness boiled in Feliks's stomach at how sickly normal the officer acted. The soldiers behind them saluted and three of them started to lead them towards the back of the building where the cells for the prisoners ware. The two officers took off to somewhere else.

The first thing that caught Feliks's eye once in the hall of the cells was the man in the back cell. He thought he knew him from somewhere. And then it came to him. "Dryusha!" , the blond turned towards the cell , struggling against the officer that held him. The head of the man in the cell shot straight up at the familiar voice and he stood up from the bench he was sitting on. "Feliks?! What are you-" , before the man could finish Feliks was thrown in the cell beside his , a thick wall separating them both. Toris and Raivis ware too thrown in the same cell as Feliks.

Feliks quickly threw him self at the cell's door but it was too late. One of the officers quickly locked it as Feliks continued to trash around and shoot insults and curses. "Shut the fuck up already!" , one of the soldiers yelled at the blond. "Fuck you!" said blond yelled back and continued to trash around. The soldiers however left him be. He wasn't doing any harm after all. With his pathetic excuse of mussels.

"God , Edward you stay at the desk and keep things in check here." The soldier that had locked the cell sighted , starting to walk towards the door leading out of the room with the cells. "I can't wait to listen to the speech of tovarishch Stalin." , the other sighted dreamily. "Da , Edward won't want to listen to it anyway , right Edka?". Said Edward looked like he had no choice and just shrugged , walking behind the desk. "I feel no need to listen to fake promises." , "Hey , hey , hey! Shush , before Braginsky hears." , one of the two joked , playfully slapping the blond's back before walking out the door with the other.

Feliks had watched the whole scene , silently watching the boy behind the desk. The silent stare caught Edward's eye and when he looked up he was greeted with the eternal green pulls of Feliks's eyes. He sighted and leaned back on his chair. "Talk silently , not too much.". Feliks grinned at his mini win. He tried to look at his cell neighbor as did the man in the other cell but they could barely.

"Dryusha , what happened?" the blond whispered softly as the man in the other cell shook his head with a sight. "If I only knew Fee , if I only knew." , he sighted again making Feliks nervous. "But don't worry , we're going to be safe." , "I doubt." , the man in the other cell stiffened. "Why?" , "They found that poem you sold me at Eliza's.". The man in the other cell paled. "Damn it…" , he hissed silently as Feliks continued. " This could mean either a death sentence or eternal prison…hey , How's Eliza? The bar was closed…" , the blond's voice started to somewhat break towards the end as he heard another sight. "She's fine I think…they can't get her…but let's quiet down for now." , the man motioned towards the officer at the desk and Feliks nodded , letting go of the bars and walking back in to the cell.

He sat down beside Toris on the bench in the back of the cement cell , said Lithuanian patting the back of the crying Raivis. As Feliks sat down the Latvian raised his head , blue eyes glaring at him. "Look what you got us in!" he silently hissed through broken sobs , "This is all your fault!" , "Don't , like , worry. They have nothing against _you_." , the blond shrugged this time bringing the eyes of Toris on him. The Lithuanian was even angrier with the blond's lack of worry. "How can you talk like that? Do you not know that they don't care if it's only you?! We're all as good as dead!"

The cell fell silent again. The three refused to talk or even move , only waited for what was to come. An hour passed , maybe a half more. The door creaked open then , the blond behind the desk jumping up and saluting. "At ease." , the trio in the cell recognized the voice. The black haired officer that stuck with Braginsky. _Alexander Asparuhovitch Balakov_.

"Comrade Shtepenek , come with me and help me escort Feliks Simtsov to the interrogation room." , "Da sir , tovarisch Balakov , sir."

The clacking of boots was heard , coming towards the cell of the trio. Toris for sure stiffened , even though Feliks was the one that would be interrogated. He felt sorry for him , he was his friend how ever. What ever he had done he gave them shelter in their hardest time. Gave them food , jobs…Toris's green eyes came down to the watch on his wrist. _Feliks was his friend_ _above all_.

"Feliks Simtsov stand up and come over." , the command of the stoic officer rang in the brunettes ears and his head shot up , seeing the blond beside him standing up and obediently walking towards the cell's steal bar door. Toris expected some sort of rebellion but nothing happened as the blond soldier opened he door and cuffed Feliks again. He then closed and locked the door again , lightly pushing Feliks foreword. They soon exited the room , the door closing behind him and everything falling into silence again.

_Toris felt sorry_.

"Don't be mad at Fee." , the soft voice of the man from the neighboring cell snapped Toris out of his thoughts. The Lithuanian stood up and walked towards the door of the cell , gripping the bars and trying to look as much as he could towards the other cell. "What do you know about Feliks?" he softly asked. "Don't be mad at him." , the man repeated before continuing. "He told me everything. I guess I can talk now when no one's listening. The boy's Polish , his real name is Feliks Lukasiewicz. He was promoted to rank Poruchnik at the final days of the invasion. He ran here. He struggled in his first days here , he knew no Russian. Berwald , the owner of the building he lived in , was good enough to understand his situation. Eliza's Hungarian , as you might know her work here is unsafe as well. Fee is very awkward , he could barely do anything when the guy who he previously lived with ran off to Sweden for some odd reason. The poor guy just wants to go back home and become a partisan. Then he could probably day as a hero of some sort. You have no right to be mad or criticize Fee , mister know it all."

The words of the male made Toris even more guilty , his stomach clenching. He let go of the bars and returned to his place on the bench silently. So Feliks was Lukasiewicz. A Pole. That's why he didn't like all the communist propaganda that filled the newspapers and the radio. He had it harder than Toris and Raivis ever could imagine. He could only pray for him now. Oh how soft Toris was…

Some time passed , Toris could make out an hour. The short Latvian had already started to drift off beside him , leaning on his shoulder lightly. Toris too started to slowly drift off but just as he did the door to the room was opened and shut back closed. The Lithuanian's eyes snapped open and he quickly stood up , the snoozing Latvian quickly awakening too.

Toris walked towards the cell door , his body tensing. The black haired officer from before showed up , followed by the blond soldier. Toris's eyes widened slightly as he saw the blond soldier half dragging Feliks towards the cell door.

The bar door was opened with a creak and Feliks was thrown inside , the door being closed quickly after.

Toris tried to catch the half conscious blond but failed , Feliks's frail body hitting the stone floor. "Feliks!" Toris gasped , kneeling down his friend , even Raivis stood up though not daring to move. Up close the green eyed blond's injuries looked even worse. A small trickle of blood oozed down from the side of his forehead , small bloody trails flowing from the corners of his mouth , a blue mark forming on his cheek , his nose probably was broken and those ware only the injuries Toris could see.

The Lithuanian blankly stared at his friend's pained expression as the officer and the soldier walked to the other cell. "Andrei Fiodorovitch Timoshenko stand up , you shall be taken for interrogation." , Toris heard the man from the neighboring cell stand up and walk towards the cell door. The bar door was opened and closed as the man exited , the three men walking towards the door. The door opened and then closed , leaving the room in silence.

Toris could hear the Latvian sniffling behind him. "We're dead…we're going to die…" , Raivis mumbled and sobbed as he slid down on the little bench again. The blond in Toris's arms coughed and let out a chocked gasp as he started to drift into consciousness. Toris quickly looked down at his friend , the blond wining and curling in his arms. "Feliks?..." , the Lithuanian mumbled as the blond coughed again before opening his eyes and looking up at him. Feliks was silent for a bit before mustering out a soft grin. "I told those commies nothing…their going to need more than , like , a few hits to break me , yeah." , Toris laughed slightly at the still rebellious blond , rubbing his eyes as he felt small tears gather in the corners. "Yeah , for sure…" , he mumbled more to him self , taking in a deep breath. He felt his head throb slightly , the familiar feeling of a headache coming up.

The next three days passed in the prison. Toris had begged the officers to let him call Bella but alas he wasn't allowed. Who knows how worried the girl was. The interrogations continued and even Toris and Raivis ended up with some minor injuries. It was a nightmare to be interrogated by the cold Russian Ivan Zimavitch Braginsky. He was a stern man that kept an innocent façade but inwardly , he was just waiting for the right moment to crush a man's spirit. He used mind games. He was a specialist at that as if. Of course he didn't stay aside from the violent wais of interrogation. That was the _general_ _Soviet_ _way_ after all.

Toris believed that if they just told the officers what they wanted their fate could be lighter. He didn't talk on the interrogations just because he neither knew anything neither did he want to betray Feliks in any possible way. The _Pole_ wanted to live his life with honor and the Lithuanian respected that dearly. He felt slight jealousy though. He could never live such a life…he was just a _coward_…

It was after their forth day in custody when the interrogations stopped. It was somewhere around noon when the door that led into the room was opened and the clacking of boots was heard. Toris , who was long awake , stood up quickly , shaking Raivis awake too. Feliks didn't bothered to move from his place in the corner where he was curled up , just raised his narrowed eyes towards the door of the cell.

The black haired officer was the first to show in front of the cell's bars. He was followed by three other soldiers , the blond soldier with which Feliks talked and an old _friend_ of Feliks. _Podpolkovnik Lopakin_.

"Feliks Simtsov , Toris Laurinatis and Raivis Galante stand up." , the stoic officer said coldly and sternly , the three males in the cell obeying. "I am here to tell you that the process against you and Andrei Fiodorovitch Timoshenko shall start today. You shall be given clean shirts and some time to get ready for the trial. You are being accused of betrayal against the great Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. You are not allowed protection and your word shall not be heard or listened to." , the officer turned towards the blond soldier beside him , "Private Shtepenek the shirts." , the blond soldier nodded and took out a bag , unlocking the steal door of the cell and throwing it inside. He then closed the door and walked towards the door of the cell beside theirs to give the man there his own. "These men shall escort you to the court hall once you are done. Good _luck_."

The last words of the officer are said silently , as if through clenched teeth. He then walked away , his chest buffed in his normal manner. The other remaining soldiers walked towards the door but didn't exit more like gathered over to the desk. Podpolkovnik Lopakin however stayed in front of the cell a bit longer , a smirk playing at his lips as he crossed his eyes with those of Feliks. The Pole growled inwardly , his eyes narrowed more than normal. The officer chuckled darkly as he walked away. Feliks felt more than sick.

Toris took the bag with the shirts and opened it. They ware the same size. His. They would fit Feliks but he didn't know about Raivis. The three got ready , pulling on the white buttoned up shirts. Feliks even complained about them being plain. Using some water that was brought in a tin bucket to the three in their second day of prison – they cleaned their bruised faces of all the dried blood and gathered dirt. Toris fixed his shoulder long , greasy hair as to look a bit more presentable , though Feliks normally cared about his looks a bit too much he didn't seem all that exited into fixing his looks. Understandable. He was going to be judged , he wasn't going to a dinner with Stalin , god forbid.

Soon the three ware ready for a court trial. Toris had to force Raivis to stop shivering and sobbing , the little Latvian being on the verge of a nerve breakdown. Toris felt scared and worried too while no emotion showed on Feliks's own pale face. The Lithuanian knew he was scared some what too. Or he was just waiting for the death sentence so he could die heroically.

The time soon came and they ware cuffed and taken out side of the cell. They ware taken out of the room with the cells and ware pushed towards a wooden door that stood left to the wall in the end of the hall. They ware taken into a large hall and led towards a double door in its end. Two soldiers opened the heavy doors and pushed the four in.

Once they ware inside they ware forced to stay in front of the table on which the judge sat. _The place of the accused_. Behind them , in the end of the room , stood three rows of wooden benches for the possible viewers. Two officers marched their way to the two sides of the judge's desk while one stayed at the side of the door. The Podpolkovnik took the place of a witness. Somewhat Feliks's stomach flipped when he saw him walk and sit on the bench to his left.

The room was soon filled with some more viewers , curious eyes wanting to see the traitors suffer. No more witnesses ware called however. Officer Balakov entered the room however accompanied by officer Braginsky him self. They too sat on the bench of the witnesses but weather they ware called as such was doubtful. With the entering of the judge , a somewhat chubby , bald man , the trial was started.

The judge cleared his throat before sitting down. "Comrades," he started gruffly "we are here to decide weather the present faces – Feliks Simtsov , Toris Laurinatis , Raivis Galante and Andrei Fiudorovitch Timoshenko , are guilty in betrayal against the Motherland.". At the mentioning of the accusation some rather harsh whispers ware heard from the viewers. _Betraying the Motherland_? That's unheard of!

After about half an hour the decision was final. They ware found guilty , of course , and ware sentenced to live the rest of their lives in a Siberian work camp. Serving the Motherland they betrayed. As the words left the judge's mouth Raivis almost fainted and the other three paled terribly. Toris even started to shake. Their whole lives…that was a lot of time.

No one gave them their word. No one gave them the chance to speak. They ware accused of even worse accusations during the short trial and who knows what was written in the report of Braginsy and Balakov that the judge mentioned. Lopakin too threw all sorts of fake indictments against the four just so the judge's normally communist clouded mind could make his decision final. It was all too unfair to be true.

Toris didn't know of some of the things that ware said ware true but judging by the face of Feliks ( that would occasionally twitch at some of the man's words ) , not all ware lies.

They ware cuffed again , their ticket for Siberia certain. As they ware again cuffed Raivis broke down , he started to sob loudly and drag his feet across the floor as they ware pushed towards the door. The thing that got Feliks angry was the low chuckle he heard from the podpolkovnik behind him. He was about to be dragged away when that low mocking chuckle went through his ears. He gritted his teeth and sharply turned around , the blond soldier Shtepenek that was holding his hands barely managing to hold him foreword. "You ware planning this all along ware you not!?" the blond yelled , chocking on his words "That's what you ware , like , waiting for right! You damn commie , I hope you , like , go to capitalist heaven!"

With big effort Feliks was pushed out the door with the other three , not stopping with his colorful curses as they ware pushed towards the cell room. Who knew the Pole knew such language. Or that he had so much strength and energy , private Shtepenek was left panting and red cheeked by the time the Pole was thrown in his cell.

The four ware given four hours to get ready for the long train ride to the cold nothingness of Russia. To get ready to meat the blizzard of the tundra and to coup with the hard life of the work camps that filled the opened ice desert. What greater punishment could Feliks get? Helping the nation he so dearly hated become stronger as he helped in the building of train rails in Siberia. Could anything worse happen to the self conscious Pole?

The time flied. Four hours went as if four minutes. Raivis begged and cried as the last twenty minutes came. Toris could only sit and whisper empty comforting words at his friend while Feliks gripped his fists in anger as his pride was slowly being taken away from him. They ware clad in their coats again but even so they ware unprepared for the Siberian coldness.

About ten minutes before they had to be taken out towards the car that would take them to the train station , the blond soldier – Shtepenek , walked into the room and towards their cell. Feliks was quick to throw him self on the cell , he had no reason not to beg anymore. "Hey! Private! I know you , you have , like , a sis! A sister , right!" , the Pole started in a shivering and unsteady voice as the soldier eyed him , his greenish eyes a bit wide. "How do you know?" the soldier cautiously asked. "Cici , Cecilia , that Czech lady!" Feliks continued in a rush , afraid that he won't be able to say what he had to before they got taken away , "She was , like , a subordinate to the military! She was , like , a true hero! But you know what , she , like , got taken away by those asses you serve right now! You're surprised , huh? Well , you know you can help here. Just let us go , do something , _anything_! She talked about you , you know! Are you going to , like , let us have her fate here! Come on , I know you hate the guts of these commies! Please , in the sake if your sis…"

The soldier for sure looked puzzled. Feliks had talked with such heartbreaking passion it broke Toris's heart just listening to him. He was desperate not to get on that damn doom ride , not today.

"Come on…" , the Pole pleaded again , "Don't you , like , have some _Czechoslovak_ pride?". The boy out side the cell averted his eyes , fighting tears. That little ministration truly touched him , more like pained him. He loved , no , _adored_ his big sister. His heart broke at the though that he was siding with the people that send her god knows where to die. But he couldn't do anything. He was a selfish coward that loved his life. If he had no pride then so be it…

"I can't…" he softly said , more to him self , as he looked back at the green , desperate and pleading eyes of Feliks. "Send my apologies and regards to my big sister if you meet her somewhere there."

The Pole knitted his eyebrows and gripped the bars tighter , as the sound of foot steps echoed out side the room. "She'll , like , curse you to hell for this…". The door burst open , four soldiers entering , accompanied by Balakov and Braginsky. Shtepenek quickly wiped the little tears in his eyes and stood at steady saluting. "At ease private." Braginsky's cold and calm voice rang out as he walked next to him and turned towards the cell. "Are you ready for your fate?" he asked , looking at Feliks. The blond snarled and baked away from the cell to stand up proudly. "We are." , the blond snapped his head back to look at Toris who's soft and yet stern voice had said the words , loudly and clearly. The Lithuanian looked brave , a look that Feliks had mastered whole three months in the barrack. The tone of his voice surprised the blond and with no doubt the still shivering and sobbing Latvian beside Toris. It must have been quite a sight. Since even Braginsky raised an eyebrow. "Let us go then." , the Russian nodded as Shtepenek opened the cell , another soldier unlocking the neighboring cell.

Once again cuffed , they ware led out side. It had gotten dark already , no people ware in sight. Ready to walk towards their doomed fate , a strange thing happened that made Toris even more brave and certain in his return.

A few feet from the armored car , the soft clacking of heels against eh pavement made the Lithuanian look to the side to see non other than Bella , running towards them. "Toris!" the girl desperately yelled , running as if for her life. "Bella…" Toris barely whispered , stopping dead in his tracks. The girl threw her self on him and he swore that if his hands ware not cuffed to the back of his waist he would hug her as tight as possible. She wrapped her arms tightly around him and sobbed as she kissed his face all over in a rush. "Toris what's going on!? What's going to happen with you , where are they taking you?!" , the girl sobbed and yelled as officer Balakov stepped in the middle of the scene. "This all is none of your business!" the stern officer yelled , "Go back home!"

"Bella , it's alright! Do you hear me!? It's alright!" Toris yelled towards the crying girl as he was pushed towards the car. "I'll be back to you , I promise! Just wait , promise me you'll wait!" , "I promise , I promise you Toris!" the girl chocked out , barely holding her self up.

"It'll be alright , I promise to come back to you! You just wait , things _will_ be okay!" , the Lithuanian was then pushed into the back of the car , the doors closing shut.

The car took off , Bella's voice was as if lost. The frail girl fell on her knees , silent tears falling down her cheeks , her shoulders shivering from silent sobs. Balakov and Braginsky walked back into the station , Braginsky giving Bella a silent , cold glance before continuing. All those tears and empty promises almost made him laugh.

His voice had sounded so stern and promising for the first time in his life , Toris had thought once in the car. He _was going_ to come back , he _was going_ to see her again. He _wasn't_ going to die in Siberia , victim of communism. He was going to die in his worm bed , already old , with his Bella by his side.

Toris was as certain as ever while Feliks's heart burned. He _wasn't_ going to die in Siberia either , what kind of shame would _that_ be. He was going to get back home and again fight for the freedom of his home. He was going to die as a hero on the battlefield or he was not going to die at all.

They had things to live for , things that kept them going. _The had their fate_.

\- _to be continued_…-

Long chapter , very , _very_ long! But already done! So , it's hard to go back up the whole way to the beginning of the chapter but I want to say that Toris deserves some happiness. I might just start liking BelgiumxLithuania…hm…anyway , Liet is not at all a coward! He's a brave soldier! I believe it! So is Feliks! Raivis…not so much…but Latvia had a hell of a history too so I guess he would be a fighter too.

Second. The First of May , May day , is a holyday celebrated in soviet Russia , also going by the name "National worker's day". It was a great thing! In Bulgaria it is actually celebrated too going by the same name. We have nothing much around it but there's no working on that day. Actually some people _do_ go to work on it but I don't go to school , so , _yey_ commie holydays! ( P.S. No religious holydays ware celebrated in soviet Russia , for example Christmas ).

The names used here for the naming of Russian officers are actually characters of mine! They are not meant to be communist but rather thirteen year old brats living in 2014 not 1940. Oh yeah , for any mild confusion – Dryusha = Andrei. He's one of my main characters , love that kid! I could really imagine him as a partisan…

Ocs Czech and Slovakia used and/or mentioned! Edward Silvester Shtepenek ( Slovakia ) and Cecilia Klara Shtepenek ( Czech ). I told my self I wont use Ocs or characters that are not yet made but I was in some need of new characters , plus I think that Czechoslovakia needs to be more mentioned in Hetalia! I wonder how Hide-papa skips those two all the time when they have an important part in history.

In Soviet Russia it was a sine of respect to call someone by their first and patronymic name. Like the Japanese –san suffix. Thus Piotr _Nikolaevitch_ ( Russia is clearly showing mild respect with saying his second name ).

Russia's name – Ivan _Zimavitch_ Braginsky was first introduced to me by a very good author ( the one that wrote the story "Lithuania:1940" , I might mistake the name but it is something like this ). I must say that it sounds very logical. To show respect towards him in this story we have to say his second name which in Russia comes from the father's name. And since Russia has no father the author of the mentioned story put in _Zima_vitch – Zima meaning winter in Russian + the fitting male suffix – vitch ( more proper would be the use of –ovitch or –evitch but I doubt it would sound good with _Zima_. You try and tell me ).

Bulgaria's name – Alexander _Asparuhovitch_. Russia is clearly showing respect again using the patronymic name , called in Bulgaria – father's name ( bashtino ime / бащино име ). This name comes from the founder of Bulgaria – han Asparuh ( who I took as his father ) + the appropriate suffix , this time –ovitch.

If you are against Russia you get Gulag! But since these three are just _accused_ of betrayal ( having appropriate documents , visas and everything that proves them to be Soviet citizens ) they get a work camp! It was not exactly a camp out of the Gulag system , the people sent in those work camps worked on building train rails or other needed things. It was related with very heavy and exhausting work , many people died in such camps.

I think it is time to say this , for those who don't know though it would make this AN terribly long! Why it is a problem for Poland to be Polish in Russia? After the invasion of Eastern Poland by the Soviet many Poles actually ran to Russia or Ukraine , parts of which ware given to Poland after WW1. However they would be caught and send to Siberia. Whole cities ware left like that. Many Polish soldiers fled too and successfully hid in Russia , the ones who ware not lucky however ware send to the camps in Russia ( the _officers_ and _higher ranked_ soldiers ) , a few months after which they ware all slaughtered , an event that became known in history as the "_Katin slaughter_".

R&amp;R and stay tune for more!


	10. Prison

_Occasionally , a stoic , coat clad , officer would yell out "To the left!" or "To the right!". The row of awaiting men soon got shorter as they ware divided into two wagons. Toris was the first to go. He was no longer cuffed. The scrapes and bruises from the interrogations still lingered across his face and hands. His fingers ware cold , his shoos , coat and his whole clothing at all not worm enough. He shivered as he awaited to be directed to a wagon. _Left_ or _right_._

"_Left!" , the Lithuanian slowly walked towards the wagon , his limbs cold and shivering. Raivis was the next to go , Toris worried more about his friend then for him self. He got even more worried when the boy was directed to the right wagon. The Latvian looked over at Toris quickly , his eyes puffy and red from crying , his limbs trembling. Toris nodded. "Go , they'll take us to the same place. We will meat there-" , he assured , trying hard to believe his words as well. "Move it!" , the officer yelled but Raivis again hesitated. He turned however towards the right wagon. "I hope you're right." , the Latvian half whispered , his voice raspy and his throat soar from crying. Toris had no idea that it was going to be the last time he would see his friend. _

_As fate would have it , Feliks and Toris ended up together , being the only two faces in the stuffed wagon that knew each other from before. The sat together on the cold wooden floor of the wagon , pushed closely against the wall so there could be room. There was almost none however as the wagon continued to fill. How could there be so many people that ware accused in betrayal?_

_The train ride was more than unpleasant. The train stopped somewhere after a day and then continued again. There was hardly any personal space. Everyone's limbs would go numb from staying in the same position for over a day. Almost no food or water was given to the men in the wagon. The train barely stopped for toilet brakes. There was only one little window in the whole wagon that was kept close for some reason. No fresh air was allowed in the over stuffed box. Like a little prison on wheels. It was after the second day when the hunger and thirst started to take the first victims. Most of the men in the wagon became sick from the lack of fresh air , water and food. There was no place for one to stretch his feet or limbs. None could sleep out of stress and the uncomfortable positions. Some simply got crazy after the third day. The fear of tight places , _Claustrophobia_ , stepped in. The men that refused to stay silent ware taken out and shot. _

_Exhausted , hungry and thirsty , stuck against the wall , heading towards a place of almost no return , it all made Toris stressed , he was not used to panicking like his Latvian friend however thus he continued to keep silent. He was closed in him self , scared. Feliks was barely human anymore. He didn't look or act like it though he looked paler , his eyes ware glazed over , his fingers ware almost blue , so ware his lips. Some of his minor injuries and scraps got infected , refusing to close and heal properly. _

_Since then on Toris was like a dead man. He was barely conscious due to the hunger and thirst and remained in this situation until the train stopped in it's destination._

Soft , forest green eyes opened slowly as some thin and soft voice urged for them to. Toris's eyes ware met by a pale face , shining light blue eyes and the tiniest of smiles. Instinctively , the male though of Natalia but she would never give him even the _tiniest_ of smiles. Her eyes ware at all not so soft , rather cold as a winter night. He woke up to soft blond hair , long as Natalia's , though the hair of the Belarusian was a lot lighter , even though blond.

The male could barely feel his body. He felt the soft warmth of thick blankets over him however. The softness of something like a mattress under his numb body. The room was worm , or at least he supposed it was a room. He opened his mouth to say something but no words ware heard. His mouth felt dry.

Something was pressed to his lips and he could feel little drops of liquid on the surface of the porcelain cup. "Drink , slowly." , the pale woman urged , helping him sit up slowly. Her voice was soft and quiet , almost a whisper , though it felt cold , now that the smallest of smiles was whipped from her face.

The Lithuanian sat up slowly and tried to raise his hand to take the cup. The semi worm water entered his mouth and he was over come with the urge to drink it all in one breath. The woman that was helping him however restrained him from doing so.

As Toris came to him self he sat up on his own , drinking the remaining drops of water in the cup. He could also get a better look on his surroundings. It was a cabin of some sort. Lit only by a soft gas lamp in the corner , the little fire of which could barely lit the whole room. A few more men ware lied down on the floor across the cabin , some , like Toris , ware lucky enough to get a mattress. A soft caught got Toris's attention , and he slowly tried to turn back to see where it came from.

The blond girl was quick to stand up and walk back to another mattress on which to Toris's surprise lied Feliks. He too was covered in thick blankets for warmth. The blond filed another cup of water and helped the blond on the mattress to sit up , giving him the water with the same desire , for him to drink it slowly. Oh how soft the girl's voice was , so _silent_.

Toris heard Feliks cough heavily a bit more , having neglected the girl's advice and gulping down the water thirstily. The girl schooled him quietly and left the cup down beside the mattress.

"Where are we?" Toris asked after finding his voice. He kept his voice low however. The girl looked at him after helping Feliks back down on the mattress. "Lay back down , don't worry much." , was the replay the brunette got. He didn't push the subject further though , feeling too tired to argue. He lied back down and tucked him self more into the blankets.

Once the girl was done nurturing the sleep talking Feliks , calming the blond's delusions , she slowly walked back to Toris. One thing the brunette noticed was that his Latvian friend was not in the shack , that got him worried – he couldn't close his eyes out of worry. The girl knelt down beside him and he averted his eyes towards her questioningly. He was about to turn his head towards her when she slipped her cold palm over his forehead and cheeks. He froze as a blush crept over his cheeks. "You have no fever like your friend. That is good." , the blond softly said. "Is Feliks okay?" Toris quickly asked , keeping his voice low. The girl nodded. "He'll be okay. Thank god they left the worst cases rest. Tomorrow you'll start working." , the girl informed as Toris blinked. "Can you…tell me more clearly?" he softly asked , suddenly worried for him self as well. The girl again nodded , her gaze as if piercing through the Lithuanian. He felt a bit uncomfortable actually. "You ware brought this morning. From Novgorod. You traveled for about a week as I was told. You're here to help build a new set of train rails. That will connect Siberia with outer Russia , over the mountains. Many prisoners ware brought actually. I heard some wore dropped out in Ukraine to be send to Kazakhstan though. I do not know why." , Toris's eyes widened , the thought about Raivis flashing before him. "Some ware unconscious when you came so the soldiers left you in the village to-" , "Where's Raivis?" the Lithuanian interrupted , not thinking that this girl might not know who his friend is or if she even knew how he looked. He needed to know where the Latvian was , did no one understand? Raivis couldn't _not_ survive alone! "Where is Raivis!?" , Toris raised his voice a bit as he shot up from the mattress in a sitting position.

The girls eyes widened , but her expression pretty much did not change. "Calm down. You'll wake up the others." , she silently said , her eyes narrowing into a hard expression. "No , tell me where Raivis is?" the brunette continued , not caring about pretty much anything except his friend. "I do not know who you are talking about. But please _calm_ _down_. You are going to wake up the _other_ men here."

With that demanding and yet calm tone and those piercing eyes the girl pretty much looked like that demon. _Ivan Braginsky_. Who interrogated him back in Novgorod. Toris could say no to such a harsh look and secretly hard and demanding tone. He fell silent , his voice lowered pretty much when he continued. "What time is it?" he cautiously asked as the girl took something out of the pocket of her thick and heavy leather coat. To the Lithuanian's surprise – it was his watch! The gift from Feliks. Seeing his puzzled expression , the girl quickly answered: "Russian soldiers like to look over corpses for any values. I was scared to leave anything valuable in these men here , and you." , Toris shivered as she mentioned the word 'corpse' but other wise nodded in understanding. He could understand though. He had always taken the Russian race as pure and honorable people. Doing something as terrible as robbing people while they ware unconscious or even dead was something terrible , unheard of for the Lithuanian! The girl however continued. "I know how painful it is to lose something precious. So I took in everything you might have had , to keep it until you woke up. This watch looked valuable." , the girl gave it to Toris , her soft , pale palm touching his hand as she did. The Lithuanian nodded. This girl thought good. He looked at the watch , priceless present from his friend , and figured out it was about two in the morning. It looked dark out side , so much he could make out of the little window beside the door.

The room was actually nothing special. Aside from the little fireplace that was radiating it's soft heat and the little table beside it the room looked quite plane. There was a naked light bulb hanging from the sealing though it wasn't turned on. Toris again looked at the girl , pushing his watch in the pocket of his thin pants. He understood he was clad only in his dress shirt and his black dress pants. His coat and hat lied on the floor beside the mattress on which he lay on. "My name is Toris. Toris Laurinatis." , he tried to pull off a soft smile , passing a hand towards the girl , expecting her to return the hand shake offer. The girl looked at his hand , then at him , then at his hand again before taking it into her small palm , shaking up and down softly. "I am Cecilia. Shtepenek. Cecilia Shtepenek." , Toris's eyes widened slightly at the spoken name , suddenly remembering the soft , pale face and blond hair , same silent nature and expression of the officer in Novgorod. The one Feliks knew.

"Do you might…I mean , have you by any chance a brother?" the Lithuanian asked , the girl sighting after a second , a painful sight. "Yeas…my little brother. I haven't seen him from long ago. How do you know?" , Toris thought about a possible answer for a bit before answering. "I met him…when me and Feliks ware send to prison. W-We didn't do anything! I-I and my friend did nothing , Feliks-" , the girl brought her pointer finger at her lips , motioning for Toris to quiet down. The Lithuanian felt a bit embarrassed but nodded non the less. It wasn't his fault he was so emotional. "I am sorry , I know." , he quickly apologized before continuing , "He was one of the officers that came to arrest us." , quick and easy. Just like he wanted.

The girl's expression didn't change though inside she was pained. "I understand. Did he…look _healthy_?" , Toris blinked a bit and tried to remember the boy from before better. "Yeas…he looks okay , he looked okay actually. Um…he…he sends you regards." Toris remembered the boys wish when Feliks pleaded for him to do something to help them. It was a miracle he was meeting his sister truly so he thought it would be better to pass his _regards_. The girl's stoic expression quivered a bit , her eye twitching slightly , but other wise it didn't change. The words of Feliks from back then came to the Lithuanian's mind. _She'll , like , curse you to hell_…

"We lived together in west Czechoslovakia…but when the Germans invaded those parts we decided to leave. We actually had a fight that time. That's why he left to Russia. I moved to Poland because I could understand the language somewhat…when they imported me and other women and children here I was scared I will never get word from him. I miss him really , I am not _that_ cold."

Silence. Toris looked at the girl again after a few minutes. "There you met Feliks?". The girl actually gave the tiniest and softest of laughs , much to the brunettes amusement. "I didn't even know his name. He retreated with his company from the border. We hid some soldiers back then but it didn't last. He was smart enough to flee on his own and here he is now. Not very far from the others if I might say but still alive." , Toris too felt like giving a soft laugh. The more he knew about his blond comrade the more he amused him. "He lasted in Russia with fake documents for about…a few months. I met him in October…and we got arrested on the first of May. He wanted to go back and become a partisan." , the girl's eyes widened slightly in amusement , "Really? He did not at all look _that_ brave." , "Yeas , he is really strange , but he gave me and…my other friend , shelter when we needed. He is very nice but comes up as selfish. He is very stupid really. Such an idiot…I'm here thanks to him now…that _jerk_…" , the girl was amused , raising her eyebrows slightly. "All Poles are such , do not worry." , Toris laughed a bit and looked at her again , "Really? That's bad , so there is a whole nation of Feliks'?" , the girl's shoulders shivered in a suppressed laughter.

"Mladshaya Sestra…water…pushalsta…" , a weak and heavy voice was heard from one of the men behind the girl and she quickly bounced on her feet to retreat the needed liquid. She filled a cup , using a flask on the table , and brought it to the begging man , kneeling down beside him and helping him sit up lightly. "Here , _comrade_ , drink up. Slowly…that's it…" , Toris watched as the girl helped the man drink then lay down again. She looked dedicated in taking care of the men that ware left in her hands. She would make a great front nurse…But those ware thoughts that Toris quickly shook off.

Speaking of girls…what was his Bella doing? Was she okay? Had she made it safe home? Who was he kidding. A week had passed since _then_. Who knows how she was. He had no way of knowing either. Maybe he could send a letter? Who was he kidding?! A letter getting from Siberia to Bella was as good as impossible.

It felt as if an hour later when Feliks started to come to him self. The blond felt hot even though it was probably under the zero in the room. His mouth felt dry and he tried licking his lips before opening his eyes. Some tears gathered in the corners of his eyes as he blinked rapidly , trying to get the salty fog away from his eyes. He heard talking , low whispers , but he felt too dizzy to turn his head towards the sound. Everything started to become more clearer and mustering out strength and courage the Pole started to sit up. He groaned softly as soft steps ware heard against the wooden floor. If he didn't know better he would think he was home.

Someone knelt beside him and soft hands slowly pushed him down. So much for getting up. "Don't move much , lay down." , the soft voice from before was heard. Being curious the blond looked up at the person beside the mattress on which he lay. Seeing blue eyes he was about to yell out 'Mathias' , but the Dane's voice was not at all that soft and silent. Also , this person was out of the gentle gender. The Pole squinted his eyes and blinked again to remove the fog covering his eyes. A soft and a bit concerned face came to view. A face he knew but the name of which he could not remember.

"Feliks?...are you okay?" , the blond remembered _that_ voice. His _friend_ , dare he say that comforting word. The thing he never truly had. His _friend_. _Toris_. "Toris!?" , if it wasn't for his burning stomach and chest he would have shot straight up to see his friend. The blond girl over him quickly held him down with little but firm hands , bringing a finger up to her lips , motioning for him to keep quiet. "Shhh…" she softly hissed at him. The boy however was stubborn and even though he lowered his voice half way down he still couldn't stop him self. "Toris , are you , like , okay? You're fine right?".

Toris sighted in relief. "I'm glad you are okay." , he softly murmured , even though he couldn't see his friend he could tell he was out of danger. "I am fine too , don't worry.". "Hey , your name was Shtepenek right. Help me , like , sit up." , as demanding as ever , Toris thought that the girl would neglect him ( she looked like the easily angered type ) , to his surprise she did help the skinny boy up.

Feliks felt his lungs tighten but other wise nothing hurt. He sighted and ran a hand trough his hair. His eyes widened slightly at his new realization however. His tiny smile dropped as he realized that his hair was a lot shorter. A lot choppier _and_ shorter. He had no idea how he looked but he guessed it was bad. Unlike most men he cared dearly for his looks – clothes , his hair , everything. He prized his chin long , soft hair. Oh , how many women would die to have his hair. He sighted and ran both his hands over his hair. He probably looked like a slob or worse. Like a P.o.W. Oh how he hated feeling like this. He actually felt his eyes water a bit.

"I am sorry I have no food." , the blond girl softly said , "You must be hungry. Me and some other women of the village near the camp give out food twice a day for the workers here. The soldiers don't give us any food after six when the second portion is served." , "Don't worry. I doubt we'll be able to keep anything down anyway." Toris replayed , suddenly feeling his eyelids drop. He felt tired. All he wanted was to sleep.

The girl looked at him for a bit more , her eyes softening. She had only wanted to serve against those damn communists. Against those damn Nazis that started this heart breaking war. But no one took in women into the army. She couldn't even become a field nurse. She was useless at some point. She could only help the men here. Because she felt them all as her brothers. Because she wanted to help as much people as she could. The people that ware accused by those damn bastards.

She was about to go out to cool her head when she felt a slight tug on the sleeve of her thick coat. She slowly turned her face at Feliks. "Hey , can I ask you how I , like , look?" , surprised by the question it took Cecilia a bit to answer. "Fine…erm , you looked bad when they first brought you here. But I cleaned and bandaged your wounds. You will be fine.". "And did you cut my hair?" , the female was quick to shake her head a no. "They brought you like this , I have enough of hair to want yours." , the Pole's eye twitched at the answer as he inwardly huffed. "Lay down and rest for now. You had a bad fever a bit ago." , the girl pushed Feliks down slowly without him minding much. He didn't really care. He felt tired , his mussels tensed and hissed at any move he made. He agreed to rest.

It was three hours later , in six in the morning , when Feliks was woken up by a loud crash and yelling. He stood up quickly , sitting up on the mattress , despite the pain that shook his head and body. The first thing he could make out was the blond girl from earlier standing in the center of the room and yelling something in Russian towards the officers that stood in the door. One of the officers yelled back at her while the others started to wake up the sleeping men that lay on the floor. "Some of these men are too wounded to work!" , Feliks recognized the girl's words. The officer that stood in front of he however just pushed her aside , hard enough for the girl to hit the table. "Their not here on vacation! Know your place! Damn suka!" , the officer grabbed Feliks by the forearm , the blond hissing at the harsh grip. The soldier then threw him on the wooden floor. "Stand up you slug!". Feliks's body hurt more as he struggled to stand up. Cecilia's pitiful yells ware heard in the background as the soldiers pushed the wounded men out of the shack and into the muddy ground.

It was still dark. Mostly nothing could be made out of the surroundings. In the background there could be seen an ever green forest. The snow had started to melt for the spring and summer , turning the ground into mud. From early dawn the noises of working people could be heard in the background. A few feet away was the so called village. The houses looked like the old Kazakh leather huts from the old times. Everything looked like a deserted mini hell to say the least.

As much as it hurt Feliks dragged him self over to the other workers. Gladly they ware given heavy coats. It was still cold even in spring. Their duty – to dig. To get rid of the unneeded gravel that was in the way of the train rails. Many men worked on moving the rocks and gravel to the side of the rails , or where they would be after they ware set. Again by the workers. The Russian soldiers worked on making the situation worse , pushing and yelling the skinny and bruised men , treating him worse than animals. They would laugh at their misfortune , pulling the Russian race lower in the eyes of the Pole.

While Toris was lucky enough to get an old rusty shovel , Feliks was not. The blond had to move the big rocks away with only his bare hands. By half an hour of work the Pole's hands ware littered with scrapes and bruises , his body still aching. He felt a fever build up again as he huffed , too stubborn to just collapse on the muddy ground. The Lithuanian too would not give up , even though he was in the same situation. The ground was frozen in deep making it harder to dig with a shovel. And as much as their hands and bodies hurt they could not stop. In one way they ware working out their anger and despair. Feliks was angry at how he had pulled down weeks of work with him. How he would never be able to go back and fight , serving out his duty towards his nation. Toris was angry too. At how he had went lower than zero again. Just when he saw light for the second time it slipped right between his fingers and for what? The feeling of hidden despair hung in the air around them as they tried to block their ears from the screams of agony and the mocking Russian laughter.

Caught in angry thoughts , Feliks didn't see the man that stood behind him. He was about to turn around to dispose of the large rock in his hands when he bumped into someone , the rock falling on the persons foot as the startled Pole flew backwards. The Pole hit the ground letting out a startled yelp. When he opened his eyes though he saw a boy about a year older than him , painfully gritting his teeth and biting his lip. Feliks was quick to stand up and help the poor boy rid of the heavy stone. Good thing it was just the boy's toes. Nothing was broken.

The blond boy hurried to kneel down , holding his dirty boot where his toes ware. Feliks looked at him , a distant memory flashing over his mind. He had the feeling he had seen the boy from somewhere. But where could he had seen this dirty and skinny boy. His green eyes lingered a bit over at the boy's eyes. They ware soft violet , glazed over by some sort of fog. Something he saw a lot around here since he had came.

"Owch…god that hurt…I'm sorry I got in your way." , the boy looked up at Feliks , taking him out of his thoughts. The Pole blinked and nodded as the boy stood up. He was a good inch over him , probably as tall as Toris. "I am , like , sorry , it was my fault really." , he apologized , heading back to his work. Something he had not expected was the boy beside him helping him move the stone. He looked up at the other shocked. The boy was quick to answer , turning back at Feliks with a soft smile. "It looks heavy for you." , Feliks didn't question further. It really was.

The heavy piece of stone was finally at its desired place and without any more talking the two came back to their places to continue working. Feliks didn't even catch the name of the friendly fellow , he only knew the boy worked beside him and Toris. The blond however couldn't shake off the feeling of knowing the boy or having seen him somewhere before. Toris didn't question Feliks. He hardly talked to him actually. The only words he would spare him ware directions on what to do and where to push the rocks. The Pole was not in the mood for talking either.

A thing the two new comers did not know was that even though food was _supposed_ to be given out two times a day it rarely happened. Sometimes , which was normally , the working men would not get even a minute of rest , let alone time to eat. They would starve and be given food at night , after the shift. And even so , a daily shift would sometimes last ten hours , sixteen hours. Sometimes they would not be given any rest or sleep at all. Toris and Feliks had came in a day in which the soldiers ware good enough to give the workers a small portion of thick and cold soup. It was really unpleasant to eat though.

Feliks somehow managed to keep down the disgusting soup once it was in his stomach. As much as it wanted to get out he knew he wouldn't be getting anything else till night fall.

The work was resumed. No water was given however. By the time the workers ware supposed to stop working ( which was around midnight ) Feliks felt more than exhausted. He could barely walk back to the shack he was taken from. He just hoped Cecilia was there. He had remembered her with the water. His limbs ware trembling , fingers bruised , hands covered in blood and mud , he felt feverish. His mouth was dry and he felt cold even though he was burning to the touch. Toris would ask him occasionally if he's okay , but that would happen seldom and quietly. Not talking was allowed.

About ten men ware stuffed in the shack Feliks had woken up to. The door was shut closed and locked. To the Pole's surprise , the blond boy from before was with them in the shack.

Once inside , the Pole quickly collapsed on the floor in the corner. Toris quickly ran to his friend and ran a shaking hand through the blonds forehead. A silent gasp fell from the brunettes chopped lips. "Fee…you're burning…" , only soft pants left the blonds lips. Toris looked around for the little flask of water from which Cecilia used to fill them water earlier. It was no use though. And the Lithuanian knew better than to share his concerns with the other badly shaped people. He pulled the Pole on his back , tucking him more in his coat. He him self didn't feel okay but his friend looked worse.

The blond continued to drift between consciousness and unconsciousness as Toris ran out of ideas. If his friend's fever continued to raise it could end bad. Just as the Lithuanian was starting to panic he felt a soft pat on his shoulder. Startled , he quickly turned around to meet clouded violet eyes. He gasped softly and was about to ask what the boy before him wanted when a soft smile came to the boys lips. "What is the matter? Can I help?" , such kindness amazed Toris. He sighted and nodded. "He…he has a fever…I don't know what to do."

The blond boy , heart as big as the ocean , knelt down beside Feliks who subconsciously opened his glazed over eyes to look at the boy. The other blond smiled soothingly and ran a hand through the Pole's forehead. He kept his shock to him self and took back his hand. "It's high. The soldiers wont listen to you if you say anything. Wait a bit , just a second." , Toris quickly nodded , ready to wait as long as Feliks could last.

The blond boy stood up and walked over to a group of men in the other corner. Whispering was heard and the blond would occasionally turn around to point at him. one of the men , the oldest as it seemed , looked at their direction making Toris feel uncomfortable. Though , when the man's face became softer Toris's heart calmed.

"There's water under the floor boards under the table! Give it to the boy!" the man softly said , his voice gruff and booming. Toris felt more than thankful. Even Feliks , as feverish as he was , turned his eyes towards the man thankfully. Seeing that the Lithuanian was stunned , the blond smiled and nodded towards him , standing up and walking quickly towards the wooden table in the other corner. He knelt down and moved some floor boards around. Toris did not know how long these men ware here but he was amazed at the teamwork they had. He had not talked with anyone the whole day nor did he hear anyone talk with each other. He was amazed at how that teamwork came to be.

The blond came up to the two with a canteen of water and took out a cloth from his pocket. Sure it looked like a dirty rag but it would do. The boy knelt down and wetted the cloth with the water from the canteen. He smiled at Feliks like a professional doctor who was smiling down at the scraped knee of a child. He folded the thorn cloth and slid the damp material over the Pole's forehead. He pressed it down gently and kept it in place with his hand until he started to feel the cloth slowly heat up. He then looked at Toris. "He will be fine but that will not be enough. We will have to wait until tomorrow when Cici would come. He'll have to last through tomorrow." , the Lithuanian sighted and nodded , looking down at his friend. Ever since he saw him in the morning , his hair choppy and short and feet barely standing , he felt as if he was looking at a different someone. He would have to coup however. He would , but would Feliks push through this to coup?

Everything went silent soon. Too exhausted to do anything the men all fell asleep. Only the blond stayed by the Pole's side when even Toris fell asleep after some time.

Timo was as reliable as a dog. If not more. He would never leave someone's side , his heart was too kind. He saw the good in everyone. He would never abandon anyone. He knew Feliks from a day and still he felt a liking towards him. He had seen a burning passion in the Pole's eyes , the same passion he had been told to have as well.

Timo Vainamoinen was Finish by blood. Things had happen quite fast for him. His short life was lived in constant searching for the better. When eighteen he had joined the military as that was his dream. To be helpful. He was too soft though , many didn't think he would hold the riffle right. When war threatened to inflame the Finish border however he was send to fight and for the first time in his life he felt as if he was needed , as if somebody relied on him for something great. He was known as the compassionate loser , unable to march straight without tripping , but when the knife came to the bone he took the rifle and did not hesitate to shoot down communists in the cruelest of ways. He became a sniper and not just _any_ sniper but the _best_. It was _always_ Timo Vainamoinen who shot down Russians , whenever a Russian soldier camp alongside the border would be attacked and communist blood would be spilled it was _always_ Timo Vainamoinen. No one else had the sharp mind to shoot with such accuracy as Timo. No one could hide in the snow and trees like Timo. It was _always_ Timo's doing. And it was _always_ Timo who would be prized.

The Finn didn't say anything of course , he always took in the prizes. It was when spring came however and the snow started to melt when the young sniper lost his hiding places. It was about the time the war started to go down for Finland. Timo relied on skis to move fast around the snow ( a think that the Finish military was smart enough to make out ) but when the snow melted and the smart invention was out of use Timo had to run. And he was at all not used to run _that_ fast anymore. He was easily caught by the Soviets and send to Siberia with more of his comrades. He had only one thing he was sorry about for leaving. Only one thing he felt like crying about. Aside from that thing he could go through anything the hideous tundra had to offer.

The Finn's eyelids ware starting to close though he knew he had no time to rest. The blond that lay down with a fever had started to calm , calming Timo as well. Everyone around him was silent , softly snoring in heavy sleep. Timo sighted softly and took the cloth away from Feliks's now cooled forehead. He felt happy the trick had worked with such a high fever. He started working on hiding the canteen of water ( now more than half empty ) and the cloth under the floor boards. No one wanted the guarding soldiers to find such things around them.

He returned to Feliks and knelt down just to find the blond awake. He was surprised , it was a _happy_ surprise. Timo smiled and waved softly. "Good morning , are you better now?" he greeted softly and silently as not to disturb the men around them.

At first Feliks thought he couldn't see. He was drenched in sweat and covered in heavy coats , his own and two more. His eyes ware like in a fog. Once the fog cleared however he could make out the boy who he had bumped into earlier. As things slowly came back to him he remembered the same boy helping him. The other men too. He never thought he could feel thankful but there was a first time for everything , right?

"I am fine…thank you…" , the Pole groggily said , his voice raspy. "Don't thank me. It was a pleasure." , the other blond smiled though Feliks could tell it was fake. The boy's eyes never brightened ever since Feliks had met him today. That was a sine of fake smiles as his mother had told him. "I am Timo Vainamoinen by the way." , the boy introduced him self and Feliks nodded. "Feliks Sim- , Lukasiewicz. Sorry , out of habit." , had it truly become a habit to be someone else? Had he started to forget him self already? The boy didn't push the question , to which Feliks was silently thankful.

_Timo Vainamoinen_. The name suited the boy. The boy's smile though… " Can you…grin?" , Timo was pulled aback by the question , looking at Feliks questioningly. "Grin? Can you , like , grin and salute , with the right hand. I…wanna , like , see something…" , the Pole's voice suddenly dropped lower , his eyes now concentrated at the boy. He had seen him before , he knew he had. And his name…he had _seen_ it too.

Timo blinked at the strange desire but it wouldn't hurt. He mustered up his best , ear to ear grin and raised his hand in a salute. The Pole looked unpleased though , as he knitted his brows , eyes narrowed in concentration. "Close your eyes…a close eye grin…" , the Finn obliged , shutting his eyes. _That was it_. It was him…the boy from _that_ picture. _His wife_!

"_You're Ber's wife_…"

The violet eyed boy froze. His hand fell from it's saluting manner , his grin shrank , his eyes opened. There was only one _Ber_ he knew. And there was only one person who's _wife_ he was.

"You're , like , the scary Swede's wife…the one on the picture in his place…" , the Pole continued to murmur under his nose. "How do you know Berwald?" Timo blurred out , looking down at the Pole. Feliks looked up at him too , their eyes briefly meeting. "He lend me the apartment…my apartment , when I came to Russia…" , the blond didn't know how to say it. It was quite a long story for such a rushed moment.

Small tears pricked in the corners of the Finn's eyes. How could he take all the happiness that filled his heart? He thought he would never get word from his , dare he say it , _husband_ , but here this Pole was , telling him the Swede was there , a few thousand miles from him. He had last seen him before the war when he was still on training. There the Swede had taken a photo. There he had confessed. The silly confession almost made the Fin laugh if he wasn't so happy back then. Such a make shift marriage did they have. Just a simple giving of rings between them. But still the blond Finn felt so happy. Berwald was the only thing he missed when he came to Siberia. The only thing he thought he would never see again but…_oh , what a miracle_!

"Is he alright , does he eat properly , does he look alright?" , the Finn's voice was starting to crack with happiness and through the bangs of hair that fell over his eyes Feliks could see those violet orbs clear as a _true_ smile emerged on his pale face. The Pole nodded softly. He was not Berwald's babysitter , he barely talked with the Swede. _Those eyes though_. They burned in his memory. The Swede was angry at him. For getting in trouble. For leaving. Had he not known better he would think the Swede had been worried. _Or was he not_?

"Thank god." , a deep sight left the Finn's lips as he brought a hand over his hair , straightening up. He brushed away the tears from his eyes as well. He then decided to do something he had never done. He reached over in the front of his coat , pulling out a thin string. He opened his palm for Feliks too see. The Pole was surprised to see a small round ring. It was darkened , probably since it was silver. It had no shine and it looked like rusted metal. Though it was _priceless_ for the Finn. "My '_wedding'_ ring." , the blond laughed softly , running a gloved finger through the ring.

Felikd had nothing against something like this. He had been born in quite a small village where not much news from the outside world came so he never really thought two men could marry. It seamed more than strange. It was like for him to randomly propose to Toris. He actually wondered about the Lithuanian's reaction , maybe he would try it as a joke some day. When Berwald had introduced Timo as his wife , back in his apartment , Feliks had thought that it was some Swedish word that meant 'BFF' or something. The Swede had proven that he meant _wife_ as in _wife_ , quite clearly even. The Pole did not push the conversation further.

"I was a sniper back when I served." , Timo answered to Feliks's question. They had forgotten the sad themes from before , deciding to converse a bit in the last half an hour of their rest before the soldiers barged in to get them to work.

Feliks looked allured by the answer. "It must be damn awesome to be a sniper , yeah?" , Timo nodded with a small smile. "It takes brains really." , Feliks laughed lightly , "Than I'm not , like , suited for the job huh?". Timo gave a shocked expression , thinking he had offended the boy , an expression to which Feliks softly laughed. "I made it to poruchnik when I served. I was actually quite a normal soldier." , the Pole confessed , the Finn raising an eyebrow. "What's a _poruchnik_?" , "Ah , you know , something like a lieutenant in the West." , Timo nodded in understanding. "Lieutenant is a high rank." , Feliks just shrugged. He had never been flattered with his post. He didn't really take it in deeply. Did it mean something when you had no desire to fight when needed.

"I heard you Finns put up quite a fight." , the blond turned towards Timo who sighted. "You could say. It did us no work though." , the Finn raised a hand up to his mouth as he yawned. He hadn't slept at all after all. "I look up to you Poles a lot." , Feliks blushed lightly , looking away. He had always been shy even though full of him self. "Oh really." , "Yeas! You people are like a synonym of patriotism. I'm sorry for all you poor fellows had to go through though." , Feliks just shrugged. When talking about _Poles_ in general Feliks felt left out of the whole thing. He was proud , a patriot indeed , but it had done him no good. So far at least.

"What are your plans after the war? If you , like , get out of this dump?" , Timo thought a bit on that , he shrugged in the end though. "I want to go to Berwald , where ever he is. But getting out of here is no use. You have no where to go. It's rather logical to get eaten by wolves if you truly _do_ manage to get out of the camp." , "So it is , like , hopeless?" , Timo sighted , "When you stay here for about a month like me you'll see it is.".

Feliks felt a bit depressed. So his life would be wasted in this wasteland? He wouldn't be able to go home ever again? He wouldn't be able to die as a hero? What was he living for then? If he wanted a heroic fate then he would rather jump in front of the rifle of one of the guards! Just get it over with. Why did he bother to have fate and look foreword. There was no _foreword_! Once you came to Siberia it was over , you ware gone , dead. _Siberia_ was the fangs of the mighty bear. They chewed you and spat you out with a broken spirit. No more human.

"I don't wanna die…" , Timo would have comforted him somehow if he had heard the boy. But Feliks didn't want to be heard. He needed no one to comfort him. He would feel strange if there really was someone to help him.

Soon , another painful day was started. The new thing was the higher posted officers that had came form the capital to '_look at the work_'. The guarding soldiers ware worse than ever , deciding they could do what ever they want with the working prisoners. That resulted in many broken limbs and ribs. Feliks occasionally slacked off for which he got a good kick. As if the pain was not enough he then got schooled by _both_ Toris and Timo. He was never the type that did work with the desire of '_a_ _hundred Soviet men_'. Slacking was normal for him.

It was somewhere around lunch when they ware supposed to be given food. No food was given though , it was something that happened often. Starvation was the main reason for death in the camps.

Everyone continued their work , seeing that no food would be given today. No use in whining. And even though he was hungry Feliks preferred to die rather to have that disgusting stew for lunch. He concentrated on his work , moving the heavy rock and gravel that Toris would dig out of the frozen ground. It was such a terrible job. He felt like doing something just to make the guards mad. He needed a bit of color in the daily routine. _God_ , if Toris could hear his thoughts he would go nuts. The Pole mentally snickered at his mischief. Oh yeah , he noted to try out the confession joke on the Lithuanian later.

He continued with his work , lost in his little dream world. He was just about to head towards Toris for the next stone when he was suddenly stopped. A boy a bit taller than him ran up to him , stopping the Pole in his tracks. "Hey , buddy , I trade four cigars for a slice of bread." , the strawberry blond boy said with a smirk. Feliks blinked at the offer. He had smoked of course but never really felt desire to smoke like most people. He did on occasions. You can't sine in the military without having smoked or drank before. It meant something was wrong with you. "Sorry , _buddy_ , I , like , have no bread." , the boy stomped on the ground in frustration. "Oh , fine." , he ran off towards Timo and Feliks over heard the same question. The boy however turned to the Finn by his name. Feliks thought they knew each other. The Pole started to slowly walk towards Toris , keeping an eye at the two. He saw Timo shrug and shake his head , the strawberry blond again stomping on the ground. The blond watched as an officer came to the two and shouted at the strawberry blond male. He grabbed his arm and dragged him off towards the rail way , pushing him in the mud. Feliks shuddered slightly as the officer spat out some curses and turned to leave. He quickly ran towards the Lithuanian to do his work as the soldier caught him staring. He didn't want trouble.

"Who was that?" , Feliks asked once Timo was back to work. "Ah , just Vlad." , the blond raised an eyebrow as he dragged a rock away from the train rail line. "And who's Vlad?" , "Just Vlad." , the Pole's eye twitched as he had again gotten a lousy answer. "What does he want?" he tried again , walking with Timo back at Toris. The Finn just shrugged , leaning down to grab a rock. "He gets him self in trouble." , "Can you answer me a bit fuller!?". "How come you didn't see him yesterday , he sleeps in the same shack as us." , Feliks raised a brow , dragging the unneeded materials away with the Finn. "Haven't seen him." , the blond shrugged , glancing over at the so called _Vlad_. The boy was still looking for someone who he could give his cigars for a slice of bread. He looked like a rat. His clothes dirty and torn , hair dirty. But eyes and grin flaring on his pale and dirty face.

"Hey guys , wanna hear a joke?" , Vlad asked as the tired men ware already in the shack after the shift , some of them already sleeping as if they ware shot. "Go away kid…leave us sleep." , one of the men that had lied down on the floor said tiredly. The strawberry blond just grinned. "I'll tell you seven paradoxes of the socialist state." , "Vlad shut up…" , another man groaned. "Nobody works , but plan is always fulfilled." , "Vlad…" , "The plan is fulfilled but the shelves in the stores are empty-" , the boy snickered as another growl was heard his way , "The shelves are empty but no body starves , nobody starves but everyone's unhappy , everyone is unhappy but no body complains," , "Vladimir enough!-" , "No body complaints , but the jails are always full!" , the boy laughed loudly much to the men's dismay.

Feliks , who was pressed against the wall in the corner , too laughed , more like snickered. He had been hearing a lot of anecdotes back in Novgorod but this one in particular was always his favorite. And it was so suitable for his current situation. "That wasn't funny…" , Toris mumbled from beside Feliks. The Pole nudged his side with his elbow , a playful smirk on his face. "Hey , Toris , wanna , like , hear a _Armenian radio_ joke." , the Lithuanian groaned softly and shook his head. "You beg god to kill us before you go to sleep right." , the Pole laughed softly at his friends expression.

"Vlad is a good guy." , Timo softly said , as he was sitting beside the two. "He just doesn't understand when to stop." Toris secretly gave Feliks a look , the Pole didn't seam to notice though. "He always looks for trouble and always seams to find it." , "Where is he , like , from?" , the Pole cut in , "He's from Romania. As I know he has a brother that's living in an orphanage in Braila. He came to Russia for god knows what and was quickly send here for a small robbery in 1938. He's here for quite some time now. He's good , like I said , but he takes things too far sometimes.". The Pole looked at the still snickering Romanian. He had been here for what? Three _years_? No wonder he went crazy.

A few Armenian radio jokes and some longer stories later ( from which the Pole couldn't sleep from laughter ) , the shack fell silent , everyone taking their peaceful moments of sleep. The next day was the same. The work however was with three hours longer. It was true torture to work in complete darkness. Feliks literally didn't know what he was touching , every time he would touch something just a _bit_ softer he would jump miles in the air out of fright. What if he touched a dead body? There ware many , even though buried in massive graves in the forest a few miles away.

He found the Romanian Vlad amusing however , deciding to stay by him. And he wasn't sorry. The boy had one sense of humor! Of course the propaganda jokes ware left out whenever the soldiers ware around , replaced by funny enough Romanian jokes unheard from many.

The seemingly bright atmosphere was replaced with hunger as the soldiers decided that the workers needed no food today. A day and a half with no food what so ever brought mild distress to the working men. Some of the newest editions even fainted. The lack of food and the longer working hours all together succeeded in giving the working men despair. It spread slowly , killing the hope of a better day. Not to mention that neither had even a drop of water since two days.

When the next day started the people ware like corpses. They ware given some water however and to their surprise a _worm_ , actually _tasty_ meal. Sure it was plane soup with potatoes and carrots but it was so much for them.

At six when normally the second portion of food should have been served the men ware pushed in a line in front of a small shack. The shack was perhaps a nursery and served as a place from which the men should be given food. It had two rooms , in the first was the kitchen and in the second ware brought the wounded and fainted men.

Every man got three gulps of water ( and if the woman giving him the bottle was good – five ) and a small portion of worm soup with a piece of bread. To Feliks's surprise the woman that gave the men food was non other than Cecilia. God , he felt relieved. He hadn't seen her in two days now.

Happy to see her friend , the blond Czech woman gave them some more bread to secretly give the others. She even threw in a canteen of water. She was smart , if she was giving them the extra food that meant that the soldiers would not notice. She was worried about the Pole's fever however , for the scrapes on Toris's hands too , for Timo also. "Feliks if you want to stay for a bit in the nursery I am sure we could work it out…" , she had insisted once it was the Poles turn to get food but he had refused. "I wanna , like , keep in touch with Toris and Timo."

Thinking about others _was not_ like Feliks. He would never admit it but now , when he was no longer paying the rent in Novgorod or relaying on others to help him around the apartment , he decided he would let Toris become something closer to him. A _friend_. He was not going to leave him as it seamed , they would be _forced_ to spend time together.

Toris was going to be something closer to Feliks…and the blond was going to relay on him from now on , _morally_.

Aside from the thoughts that tortured his mind a brighter thought came to the Pole's mind. A thought that almost made him spit out his soup. He stopped him self however. It was too precious to be spilled like that.

_It was the thought about the fake marriage joke_.

Out of laughter , some of the Pole's soup escaped his mouth and trickled down his chin and coat front. He was quick to gather it with his bruised and cold hand as Toris shrieked from beside him. "Feliks are you crazy! You wont be getting anything else after this if you spill it!" , the Lithuanian schooled as the Pole continued to laugh. "Marry me Toris!" , "What?!" , "I said , like , marry me!...oh , wait , that , like , didn't come up so well…" , "Feliks are you drunk?!"

Timo , who was sitting beside the two friends , smiled , looking up at the gray sky , bowl of cooling stew in hands. His heart flared. Flared with new sparks of hope. Oh , how he _missed_ the Swede. But he was there , somewhere. On the other side of Russia but there. He was going to make it out of the camp. He was going to go back to him and live his life. New hope flared in his heart.

New hope flared in Feliks too. Toris could feel it too. The fragile Czech could also feel her heart wormer with the thought of her precious little brother somewhere there , alive and safe. And from the distance , the crazy looking Romanian's heart too got a bit wormer.

"_Life is like a circle Feliks. One day you might be going through hell but the other you will be spending money in Vienna. But remember that Vienna wont last. You'll go down again and again up. You just have to have hope in tomorrow_."

\- _to be continued_…-

Happy tenth chapter! Yey , scary and terrible Siberia rides! Mentioning of Oc Czech and Romania! More drama awaits for these poor souls in the next chapters!

Okay , so first – we all know that the Russians didn't care if the working men ware hungry , cold or tired. Much like the Germans really. They want the job done and it _will_ be done!

Oh no , Raivis is lost! He'll die alone! Literally!

I just love SuFin do you not~ , it worms my heart. I imagine Finland quite cool as a soldier…

Second!: _Poruchnik_ ( Polish ) is a lieutenant much or less. It is a rank not used in today's military but used during WW2 and 1.

Oh , during the Soviet times the citizens ware not allowed to talk against the motherland so instead they made up jokes known as anecdotes. They showed the state of the nation in the eyes of it's citizens. An _Armenian radio joke/anecdote_ is basically a question-answer joke , for example: "This is Amrenian radio , our listeners asked us: 'Will the police still exist when communism is built?' , We're answering: 'Of course not. By that time , all citizens will have learned how to arrest them selves.'" , it always starts the same way and there are a lot more of these that help you understand true Socialism and Communism.

So , by now you should have understood that this story is not based only on Poland and Lithuania's life right? If not , then I am telling you now! This story is called "What Lies Tomorrow" not , per say , "What Lies Tomorrow for Feliks and Toris". Yeah they are the only characters listed cause the others ware too many. You will see what I am talking about in later chapter. Pointing this out now so you wont get confused. This story will get through the lives of many characters in the times of war without getting far from our two **main** characters , thus Toris and Feliks.

R&amp;R as always!


	11. We will never surrender!

"_Hey , Feliks." ,"Yeah?" , "Do you want to know a secret about me?"_

_The Pole turned his head towards the Romanian , the both slacking off in the precious minutes when the soldier guards ware not looking. "What kind of secret?". The Romanian snickered , his abnormally red eyes glowing with mischief as he looked at the blond. "I am a _vampire_."_

_Feliks nearly chocked , from laughter or shock he couldn't tell. The Romanian remained dead serious. "Are you really?" , the Pole asked , getting back to work. He was meaning to joke but the Romanian just grinned. "Yeah , see the fangs?" , Feliks turned around to face the grinning Vlad. His k-nines ware abnormally sharp for sure , but that didn't mean he was a _vampire_. Feliks didn't believe in such things. He was a man leaving in the twentieth century!_

"_Cool , but not enough to convince me." , the Pole said , not giving Vlad a second glance as he continued with his work. "I'll prove it by biting the mladshaya sestra!" the Romanian yelled over at him.. Feliks didn't laugh from shear politeness. He just rolled his eyes and resumed his work. He wasn't going to get in trouble because of the crazy guy. _

_He knew now , Vlad had to have a yellow card!_

Time flied as every day the same routine followed. It got even worse. Feliks felt dirty , his hands ware covered with scratches , drenched in blood and dirt. His clothes ware dirty , he hadn't change or washed them in a month. He hadn't taken a shower in a month as well. Timo had told them that that was life in the camp. They could only believe in getting food and water , things they got seldom. No one thought about showers or clothes in such a place.

Neither Feliks or Toris ware complaining. They could go without such comforts. Their top priority was to stay alive. They had gotten used. Gotten used to the constant lack of water and food and the deadly long work hours. There ware little things like the jokes they told each other when the guards ware distracted , the stories they told each other before sleep ( if they ware not too tired for talking ) , the little amount of vodka Cecilia would give them so they wouldn't freeze and a lot more that somewhat brightened their days. The despair was still around them though , clenching in their lungs like a snake , refusing to let them breathe.

Many people died of hunger , thirst or from illness. There ware constant troubles with the building of the rails. They ware supposed to be ready by the end of summer but such a thing was impossible. The people would often take sixteen hour work shifts and would be left with no food or water for days. When a man died they would through him in a hole near the rail way. The soldiers would wait until a few more died so they wouldn't have to dig graves over and over. They would then bury them in the forest. It would take a few days for more people to die , days in which the body would rotten , giving out a terrible stench. Soldiers would occasionally burn the bodies and that would be worse. Not once did men cried. But things continued and nothing changed as summer came.

More work followed in the rushed summer months. By the beginning of autumn the rails ware no where near done. More deaths followed , this time more out of infections rather then out of hunger and thirst.

During that summer everyone was sick of something. One got the simplest flue others got terrible inner infections. Toris him self had gotten through a rather terrible kidney infection. Was it not Cecilia he knew he would die. The girl , with the help of another nurse – Tanya , had nursed him as much as they could. There ware almost no medications so the two girls relied on old ways , along with the little medicines they had. The most needed , antibiotics , however ware not found. Toris would live. He still felt pain and there was the possibility of him dieing but with the time he would be better again.

Timo was the next to fall sick with a terrible flue. They ware strong however and by the end of summer they ware again working full shifts. The worse came with autumn however. The cold started to return to Siberia. The ground froze again making it harder to dig. The coats of the men , drenched in sweat , blood and mud , started to get colder and colder. Some had gloves other did not , same went with the hats. As the first snow came the rails ware yet not ready. The building was ceased much or less. Not because the men would be in danger in such temperatures rather no work could be done in the soon to come blizzard.

Days passed as everything was covered in snow. The men no longer worked on building the rails rather worked on getting the snow away from the marked line. And since not much shovels ware offered , many men did the work with their bare hand. Many started to freeze. No heat was offered in the wooden shacks in which the men slept. The winter took the first lives.

Everyone fought frostbites. Their thin shoos did not preserve them from the cold , not to mention they had started to let in water long ago. Many men lost fingers to the biting cold , others even their ears. The two ( and only ) nurses would try their all to help but the soldiers gave them no time in which they could work. Cecilia her self fought with the soldiers not once , trying to tell them that they would need medicine and more food but the answer would always be the same. _There are no supplies to waste_.

Another train of prisoners came in the early winter. Feliks , now being one of the suffered aces around , took it in his hands to shape up the new comers. No , he wasn't going to _beat them_ up , more like try to comfort them. Five young men ware placed in their cabin making the place less. They ware all good boys , enrolled to Siberia for things similar to Feliks and Toris's situation.

Winter went on and Feliks felt more than lucky to have all his fingers still. Both him and Timo ware used to cold but this was some nature outrage!

A week before Christmas Toris and Cecilia arranged a letter to Novgorod. To the address of Bella. Almost a year had passed without a word from his love. He needed to know she was okay. Cecilia had told him that the letter might not get there , or even if it did there was almost no way for a letter back. But the Lithuanian was ready to try anything. He just wanted Bella to know he was okay. That he was _alive_.

Their first Christmas came. With a sip of vodka for all. It was very melancholic and nostalgic for Feliks and Toris. The Lithuanian would stare at his watch and remember only his beloved Bella. The happiest day of his life , when his second love returned to him.

Their first Christmas in the work camp passed with yet another death. Then came New Year. Again a sip of vodka for all. This time even a small bowl of stew and some bread. The snow melted and made way to spring. The building of the rails was resumed. More soldiers ware enrolled to keep the workers working while some of the older returned to Moscow as heroes.

The bad treatment continued. Spring came rather quick as the tundra rid it self from the thick snowy blanket. In the forest near by the birds could be heard , replacing the howls of the wolves that ware always depressing to listen through during the winter nights. Many people could stop worrying about loosing their fingers to the biting cold as the weather became a bit wormer.

Everything was the same by the end of March. Toris kept up with the pain in his sides , Timo could be heard coughing from time to time , Vlad continued to sell his terrible cigars in exchange for some left over bread. Cecilia continued to help all who needed…

By the beginning of April however , Feliks started to witness the nurse's strange behavior. She looked paler , a lot paler! She looked tired , her eyes ware red and puffy from the lack of sleep and what Feliks assumed – shed tears. The Pole had no way of knowing what the Czech was going through but many thought like him. That something was wrong with the mladshaya sestra.

It was something that bothered Feliks. The blond girl as if stopped caring , walking around like a ghost , missing from work quite a lot. The thing that truly didn't gave Feliks any sleep was _Vlad_. Their conversation from the beginning of January. But it was stupid , if a guy like Vlad even got closer to the self conscious Czech he would get slapped and yelled at. It was impossible.

_I'll prove it by biting the mladshaya sestra!_

That night , Feliks had to try really hard to fall asleep. She looked pale and tired , he constantly reminded him self. Pale , he told him self , she probably didn't sleep , her eyes ware red. A shadow of what she was.

_I am a _vampire.

The month passed with a _very_ sudden death. Something that left the small shack in horror. The eldest of the boys leaving in it had died. In the end of April the old man , that served his country once , was gone for good. All ware depressed since there was not a boy in the shack who didn't feel sympathy towards him. When they first came to Siberia , the man was kind enough to give Feliks _water_. Something so simple yet with such big meaning. In the early morning his body was taken and burned. Many wanted to give their last regards to their hero by begging the guards to give him a proper funeral but the answer was always one. _There is no time to deal with such things_.

News from the front took the thoughts of the men west. The Germans had taken over France and ware desperately fighting Britain. They had swept most of Europe of their feet and Feliks could only ponder over the question if Mathias was okay. A year had past and the boy still thought about the Dane. He wasn't easy to forget.

Toris , as much as he wanted to believe his naïve dreams , was left heartbroken when no letter came from his dear Bella. He had stopped waiting , consumed in all the work and the desire to stay alive. He couldn't tell anyone about his suffers. A small spark of hope kept him going , that maybe Bella got his letter but then all sorts of horror scenes took over his mind. _What if she stopped waiting for him_? Those thoughts left him restless , he was like Cecilia. A shell of what he used to be.

25th April came , a worm day. Feliks would remember that day as something great in his life. It started off normal as ever. Work and then lunch. What was different was Vlad. It always was Vlad but today he was nowhere in sight. And Feliks had just mustered up the courage to ask him about Cecilia…

Gladly , the blond Czech was serving out lunch. Feliks was a bit late , as he remembered , the men had already taken their portions when he arrived. They ware sitting on the ground , devouring their food with animalistic hunger. Cecilia was no where in sight. Feliks , being hungry , decided to walk in the nursery where the two nurses worked to check if he could get his food. What he was greeted with was unexpected however.

The door was closed and he had just reached to opened it when he heard a soft squeak from inside. Something like a chuckle was heard next followed by a hungry slurp. Seconds later a soft sight was heard and Feliks could barely believe his ears. "_Vlad…_". A hand shot up to cover his mouth , his green eyes wide in shock. _It was Cecilia_…

"What , you'll just fix it…" , Vlad's annoying voice was heard , followed by a mocking chuckle. "Stop…Vlad if anyone sees…". Feliks softly opened the door and entered the shack as quiet as possible. "No one will see , come on.". The Pole pressed against the wall , the other two being in the other room that served as the nursery. "I'm telling you….stop!..." , a loud gasp was heard and Feliks couldn't take it anymore. He jumped in the doorway , ready to punch the Romanian if need be. "Vlad you creep!" , he shrieked , "Get away from…"

The sight before him was more than fantastic. No , it had nothing to do with vampires and the like , it was far more normal. There in the room stood Cecilia , bend over Vlad who was sitting beside a table. Both ware now looking at him much or less shocked. Feliks quickly found out what had happened , feeling quite stupid.

It looked like the nurse had cut her hand while putting away some medications. It was Vlad who had been the cause of that much or less , thus the soft '_Vlad'_ whisper. Vlad was clearly mentioning the light cut of Cecilia's , the other half of the conversation was clearly over some papers that lay on the table , papers that Vlad desperately tried to cover from Feliks. The Romanian had clearly splashed something over them , soaking them. That's why the Czech was mad. On the table beside the Romanian and the papers stood a bowl from which Vlad was eating before Feliks entered. Just when Feliks thought Vlad was truly a…he didn't want to think…

"Feliks?" , the Czech softly whispered in clear surprise.

"Erm…I…I came to get my food…" , the Pole tried to say. Cecilia whipped her hands from her coat ( that she wore even in the fairly worm spring days ) and turned to exit the make shift nursery and headed past Feliks towards the other room that served as a kitchen. Once she was out of the nursery the Pole turned towards Vlad who was again slurping his stew , hiding the papers more successfully. "What are you doing here?" the Pole questioned , crossing his arms and raising a thin eyebrow. "Eating…" , was Vlad's slurred replay. "What are you hiding?" Feliks asked , coming closer to the strawberry blond , "And why are you eating here? If the guards find you…". Just then Cecilia reentered the room , holding a small slice of bread and a little tin soup plate. "You can eat here too , but quickly." , the girl gently said , "You and Vlad have to go soon."

Feliks sat down on the small table so he could look at Vlad. The Romanian kept his gaze down as the two ate in silence. Cecilia left them eat in peace as she walked around the room a lot more energetically. A heavy feeling hung in the air making the Pole uneasy. His green eyes moved from the Czech to the Romanian. "What's going on with you two?" , he couldn't help but ask , his voice as if cutting through the stilled air in the room. A minute passed before Cecilia answered. "Vlad just had some work here…." , the Romanian started nodding quite too energetically to the blond's words. "Yeah. I was just going." , Vlad quickly stood up , almost knocking the chair down. Feliks gave him an odd look and reached over to grab a sheet of yellowish paper that fell from the Romanian's ripped pocket ( many wondered how he always managed to keep his stuff in the said pocket ). "Then what's this?" , the Pole waved the small paper , giving it a quick look as to see the other's handwriting ( many wondered if the boy wrote Russian or his own strange language since they could not make out the strangely curved letters ).

"The letter…" , Vlad mumbled , the tips of his ears flaring. In the background , the blond Czech had her face in the palms of her pale hands. Feliks's sharp glare moved from Vlad to Cecilia. "I am waiting." , he continued sternly. "Feliks , come on , give that…" , the Romanian tried to talk his way out of the situation ( as he always did ) but the Pole wasn't ready to cooperate. "God , Vlad , I swear if I could read your _words_ I would have red them by now." Feliks scowled , waving the letter around again , "I want to know what's , like , going on. _I'm waiting_."

A soft laugh was heard from the background and the two turned their eyes towards the petit nurse. The Czech had regained her composure and was now rubbing her pale forehead in slight annoyance , before she turned her cold and stern glare towards the two. "Vlad , go on and tell him , but quick , the guards might come any second…you two have to go to work too…"

And Vlad sat down in defeat , the blond Pole following him in taking a seat. The Romanian motioned for him to come closer and both of them leaned over the table. The Czech resumed her work around the shack , leaving the two be. The two looked like two KGB officers that ware talking over a new order.

"Listen Felek. What I am about to tell you is very secret , got it. You gotta keep it a secret , okay? Okay…"

Feliks had expected everything. From the stupidest of thing to the worst thing Vlad could do , but absolutely not what his ears heard.

Everyone knew that Vlad was like a rat. Three years in this place and he had gone crazy much or less. He ran around the working men and offered cigars ( that he would steal from the sleeping guards ) in exchange of bread or any food he could find. He had hit a new kind of low , people would repeat. Thing was , that the Romanian was not at all stupid or messed in the head. No , he was a lot smarter , that rat was! He had made a plan to do a thing many had never even dreamed of. Looks like he had grown tired of the constant kicks and punches he daily received by the guards. That was why he was going to do the unheard of…

_Run out of the camp_…

Feliks listened closely to the other's plan. His eyes would get wider with every word. His ears would perk up. He couldn't believe that Vlad , the one that always suffered the most , the one that had gone mad in this winter trap , had made out such a smart plan. He told him how he and a few other men ware going to jump into one of the wagons of the train that took munitions to outer Russia , the one that stood on the rails in the village near by. They ware going to use the first of May when every guard would be distracted to sneak out. They would run to the other end of the village where they would hide in Cecilia's hut until night fall when they would forever say good bye to the hell they had been living in the past year. It sounded too brave to be true , too unreal.

Feliks was shocked to hear that this had been a plan that wasn't from yesterday. The preparations for this _operation_ had been going around since last summer. Ever since Feliks knew Vlad he had been constantly selling something to someone , running around the workers and making small exchanges. What he didn't knew was that Vlad had been passing around notes. _That sly thing_…

Many knew what Vlad was doing and many wanted to follow him , others ware too used with the reality of prison and had no desire to start over. The younger ware quickly pulled in by Vlad's ambitions and counted the days to the first of May. Feliks knew what they felt. He could feel the buzz in his stomach too. A new found hope for a better tomorrow. And Vlad was so certain that his plan would work , his voice held no doubt in his plan.

"What about Timo and Toris?" , the Pole asked once Vlad seamed done with his story. The Romanian raised an eyebrow. "What about them?" , "Well , ya' know , can they , like , come or smthng'…". The last part of Feliks's words ware quite mumbled for Vlad's ears. Sometimes the blond would get carried away , getting too lazy to open his mouth when he talked. "I told you that only eight people can come. I know for a thing that a wagon with comfy enough crates would leave and since I have information that the crates and barrels ware all four and medium sized I planed out that all together eight people could end up coming. Two in a crate or barrel. This aint' a first class ride." , the Romanian explained , lowering his voice a bit more before he continued , "And…I don't think your Lithuanian friend can be trusted…". At that statement Feliks's eyes widened. "What do you mean?!" , he shrieked , "If Toris can't be trusted I don't know who can! He's like a guard dog , way too loyal….". Vlad just shrugged and leaned back in his chair , rubbing his stomach with a hum. "Weeeel…I don't know…". "Boys , hurry! Go through the back door , the guards are coming!" the voice of Cecilia was heard , said girl having been standing in front of the window in some time.

The two boys didn't waste time in getting a move on. In seconds they ware already out by the back door of the shack and running.

"Who else is coming…" , Feliks panted , running by Vlad's side. "Me , Cecilia , Artyom and Pavel , the mute guy , Sergei , Motya and….Vasya had to come but…" , Feliks didn't have to be told twice. Said Vasya , a good and strong fellow that had came in the beginning of winter , died from a hard case of pneumonia about three weeks ago. His lifeless body shared the fate of all the others. "I guess I'm taking his place…" , the Pole huffed as the two came to a stop. They snuck behind a sleeping soldier and took their place beside the other working men. "Yeah , kind'a like that…"

Despise Vlad's words , Feliks quickly told Toris and Timo about the _plan_. He quickly regret that though. Toris quickly refused to participate and demanded that Feliks didn't get involved in such risky situations. It looks like he spoke for Timo too , the Finn not saying a word. He looked as if he was thinking about the possibilities of the plan ending successful.

Feliks hadn't remembered arguing with Toris like he did. Why couldn't his friend understand that they couldn't live like this , it was just a matter of time before winter came again and with it probably the end of their lives? The Lithuanian refused to listen , saying that it was too risky. Not even mentioning Bella could change the brunette's mind and if that could not Feliks didn't know what.

The next day passed , so did the next and the next. The 29th of April was yet another day that would stay in Feliks's memory. Vlad would pull him aside to talk about the incoming plan the passed dais. Feliks got closer with the participants in the plan and they all waited , nerves on edge. They ware more than happy to finally get out of the hell hole they ware thrown in. They ware constantly reminded by Vlad that the plan had no chance to fail that's why they ware not expecting the thing that happened in the early morning hours of 30th April.

The last day was terrible , longer work hours and barely no food. That's why Feliks fell asleep so quickly in around midnight when they ware allowed to stop work. Feliks slept just an hour or two though , since he was quickly woken up by a menacing hand. He groggily opened his eyes from the hard shake his shoulder received just to see Vlad whispering something above him. "Wake up…wake up damn it…". The Pole shot up straight , rubbing his eyes. "What is it…" , to his surprise Vlad howled him up by the forearm as quickly as the blond was awoken. "No time to explain , we got'ta get out of here…". The Romanian started to make his way towards the door but was stopped by Feliks. "Wait , what happened?..." , "Change of plans , we have to go _now_.". Feliks could barely see the Romanian in the dark but judging by the way he was talking it was something urgent. "What about the others?" , Feliks asked , seeing everyone else still asleep. "No time." , was the Romanian's replay to which Feliks's eyes widened slightly. "You're just going to , like , leave them here…you promised them…" , "Felek , there's absolutely no time so stop whining and come on! The soldiers can get here any second!"

The Romanian said all that in one , shallow breath. Feliks didn't move , he just narrowed his eyes. A few seconds passed as if a few minutes in which the Pole could hear only the breath of the other. He knelt down beside Toris and Timo , the two too exhausted to do anything but sleep. He roughly started to shake the Lithuanian's shoulder , then started to wake up the Finn. In the dark , Vlad's eyes widened. "What are you doing?" , "Staying beside my friends…"

The Lithuanian was ready to school his friend once he opened his fogged eyes to the Pole's narrowed green ones. It was before he saw how worried the Pole looked though. The Fin beside him was rubbing his eyes , using the wall for support as he stood up. "Feliks…what's going on?..." , Toris asked in a hushed whisper , standing up as quick as he could. "No time to explain." , the Pole said quickly , standing up from his kneeling position.

Toris soon found him self running for dear life , accompanied by Feliks , Timo and surprisingly Vlad. The minute he saw the Romanian he knew it had something to do with the plan Feliks had told him a few dais ago. He had no time to argue though. He just knew he had to run , run for dear life. Timo was in the same case. The Finn secretly thought about joining the plan of Vlad but felt sudden weakness , something that prevented him from speaking his mind that time.

Soon Toris heard sound from the camp and Vlad urged them to run faster. They ware just entering the small village near the god forsaken place. They ran without stopping for the tiniest of seconds , ribs and sides hurting , every breath becoming more and more painful. They ware coming to the end of their journey though.

In the end of the main street Vlad led them to the left , towards a semi big wooden shack the walls of which looked ready to fall beneath the roof. The Romanian roughly kicked the wooden door down , not minding that he disturbed the peacefully sleeping owner of the small home , in other words Cecilia. The shack was worm , in the fireplace there was still burning wood. The blond Czech was quickly awoken though , jumping from her bed and from under the many comforters. The door was quickly shut closed.

"Cecilia , get dressed and lets go!". The Czech needed no urging as she took out her clothes. The four boys had to turn around and shut their eyes tight to give the girl privacy. They couldn't effort the luxury of going out. In the end the girl was dressed and again without questions , as if she understood the situation , grabbed some things of here's , putting them in a big bag.

They found them selves running again. No one could speak in the intensity of the moment. They just ran , ran as much as they could , too scared to stop even for a second to catch their breaths. The running was repaid though. Everything was. From standing in a room with a naked girl to waking up in three in the morning. Everything was repaid when they saw the other village come in view , as small as the last , with the many small shack and leather huts. When they saw the train rails that would lead them to freedom , when they managed to get through the little guards and to board into one opened wagon. They had no time to look at the number , they just had to get in and quickly hide in the barrels full with gun powder. They closed the barrels only when a guard would pass in the other time they stayed opened for air. No one talked no one dared to make the tiniest of squeaks. They ware like trapped mice waiting for the predator cat to pass.

The nerves of all ware on the line. They ware not that early , the first of May was just in a day. They hoped the train didn't stay a day though. They had to get out as soon as possible to avoid any possible trouble. Their hearts ware in their ears , pounding mercilessly. Toris could barely hold him self from breathing heavily. The barrels ware far too tight and Feliks wondered how Vlad intended of two men to travel in one barrel. Though the wagon was probably different. Cecilia clung onto her bag , bringing the roof of the barrel over her head when ever she heard the smallest of noise , the lowest of whispers and the littlest of steps. That night was the worst in their lives. No one slept , no one dared move. Their limbs went limb by the morning.

Feliks would never know that Vlad had lost one of the messages he always passed around. He would never know that a guard found it and that's why Vlad took off a day earlier before the actual date of the plan. He would never know why from the seven other males he was the one who Vlad took with him but he wouldn't care either. He remembered that first of May , year nineteen-forty-one , as the happiest day of his short life. The clacking of the train's wheels over the rails never felt so beautiful to the ear , the constant yelling of men to get on and off never was so magnificent , his heart never pounded so hard in his chest. He was the happiest man on earth , he would start dancing if he could. And the moment the train took off , _oh_ that pleasant moment! It was better than when he first put on a military hat , better than when he first ate ice cream , better then the moment he first held a rifle , it was something he had never felt. He was in love with the feeling , the feeling of final freedom. It was like a wave that washed over him taking all the dirt from his skin , making him feel light headed , drunk in happiness. Before his eyes there was only the way up. The way out of all the dirt and mud he had gotten him self into. _The way to a heroic death and fate_.

_He would have never thought that his life would be short lived. No , he didn't think about the future. He lived day for day. And if someone came to him saying that he would die without seeing Warsaw , without hearing the Polish language again , without saluting to the well known anthem and flag , without having to dance to the lovely folk songs , without seeing his home in Warsaw like he promised him self he would one day…he would laugh and call that person an idiot. Because Feliks didn't imagine something like that back then. No , he would die like a hero or not at all! Such a scenario was laughable! It didn't exist…_

_Because , if Feliks had no fate in the day after he would have killed him self long ago…_

End of part 1

Cliff hanger! Okay so here's the vocab: mladshaya sestra – little sister ( means that the , a lot older men , take Cecilia as part of their make shift family and since she is little and a nurse – _mladshaya sestra_ )

Oh , only that? If you are wondering why Finland isn't Tino it is because the variant Timo is more appropriate than _Tino_. I decided to use it instead.

Felek is a pet name for Feliks and Felix is spelled with 'ks' because there is no x in Polish.

End of part 1…end of part 1…part 1 is DONE! Do you want me to continue? Do you want to see what happens? Be ready and wait…for THE SECOND PART!


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